Labor

  • December 15, 2025

    Labor Law Professors Defend California's NLRB Fill-In Law

    Two dozen labor law professors have joined California and the Teamsters in federal court to defend a state law expanding its labor board's powers, saying the National Labor Relations Act shouldn't preempt the law because circumstances have changed since the NLRA's broad preemption doctrine was established.

  • December 15, 2025

    Judge Tosses Ex-Delta Worker's 'Bare-Bones' Breaks Suit

    A Washington federal judge tossed a proposed class action accusing Delta Air Lines of understaffing that forced workers to miss meal and rest breaks, ruling on Monday that the plaintiff's "bare-bones allegations" were insufficient to allow the suit to proceed.

  • December 15, 2025

    Full 5th Circ. Denies Nexstar's Bid To Overturn Union Order

    The full Fifth Circuit declined to reconsider a panel decision to back a National Labor Relations Board order requiring Nexstar to start bargaining with a newly installed Communications Workers of America affiliate at two of its Denver television stations.

  • December 15, 2025

    UCFW Fights Challenge To Delegate-Allocation System

    The United Food & Commercial Workers asked a D.C. federal judge to toss two union members' challenge to the union's system of allocating convention delegates, saying the system complies with federal labor law and the members should challenge it at the convention if they want to change it.

  • December 15, 2025

    NY AG Says UPS Was Grinch With Seasonal Workers' Wages

    UPS "played the Grinch" by failing to pay seasonal workers it hires between October and January for work they performed outside their shifts, leading to millions in unpaid wages and overtime, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Monday.

  • December 12, 2025

    Fired MSPB Member Urges Full DC Circ. To Rehear Case

    A D.C. Circuit panel based its decision to uphold Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris' firing on a mischaracterization of the agency, Harris argued Friday to the full D.C. Circuit, asking the en banc court to override the decision, bring her back to work and preserve MSPB members' job protections.

  • December 12, 2025

    Delta Retirees' Pension Dispute Paused For Mediation Efforts

    A Nevada federal judge Thursday froze a proposed class action accusing Delta Air Lines Inc. of shorting married pensioners on retirement benefits by miscalculating lump-sum payouts, giving the airline and the former workers behind the suit a chance to try and reach a deal. 

  • December 12, 2025

    Healthcare Co.'s Noncompete Too Broad, NLRB Judge Says

    A Michigan healthcare staffing company violated federal labor law by requiring its phlebotomists to sign employment agreements containing overly broad and restrictive provisions, a National Labor Relations Board judge has determined.

  • December 12, 2025

    NLRB Asks Calif. Judge To Follow Colleague On Fill-In Law

    A California federal judge should follow his New York colleague's lead and hold that states likely cannot let their labor boards fill the National Labor Relations Board's shoes if the NLRB is faltering, the NLRB argued, saying "profound labor relations instability" could result if courts begin endorsing such laws.

  • December 12, 2025

    2nd Circ. Remands $100K Award To Fired Atty In Bias Case

    A Second Circuit panel vacated a $100,000 charging lien awarded to an attorney who represented a man who sued Marriott International Inc. for race-based harassment, agreeing that the lawyer was fired without cause but finding that the lower court appeared not to address several arguments in favor of a lower amount.

  • December 12, 2025

    4 Big ERISA Litigation Developments From 2025's 2nd Half

    The Eleventh Circuit signaled it may be willing to change its precedent to make it easier for federal benefits lawsuits to get to the courthouse door, while the Second Circuit shut down a challenge to a union pension plan's private equity investment emphasis. Here's a look back at these and two other significant Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation developments from the latter half of 2025 that benefits attorneys should have on their radar.

  • December 11, 2025

    NLRB Judge Tosses Case Against 'Memphis 7' Starbucks

    An administrative law judge has determined that Starbucks didn't violate the National Labor Relations Act when it surveilled employees' union activities, more strictly enforced its punctuality policy and disciplined a union employee at a store that illegally fired seven activists in 2022.

  • December 11, 2025

    NJ Judge Won't Lift Bid Deadline On Tunnel Rail Project

    A New Jersey federal judge said Thursday she won't lift a deadline to bid on a railway-construction project associated with building a new tunnel to New York City, saying a New Jersey construction company isn't likely to win its challenge to a project labor agreement tied to the venture.

  • December 11, 2025

    A 'Lost Year': Lawyers Look Back At NLRB Without A Quorum

    Labor attorneys have spent the last year in a holding pattern as they counsel clients on dealing with a National Labor Relations Board that has gone the bulk of 2025 without enough members to decide cases. 

  • December 11, 2025

    High Court Arb. Jurisdiction Case May Impact W&H Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to take up a case about federal jurisdiction over the final say on arbitration awards is a technical battleground that may reaffirm state court power over such agreements, including those involving wage and hour claims, experts say.

  • December 11, 2025

    RLA Doesn't Confer Arb. Right Without Union, NY Judge Says

    The Railway Labor Act doesn't give airline workers the right to compel arbitration against their employers before a System Board of Adjustment if their union isn't representing them, a New York federal judge ruled, tossing a fired United Airlines technician's bid to compel arbitration without a Teamsters local's involvement.

  • December 11, 2025

    NJ Cannabis Co. Challenges Law Requiring Deal With Unions

    A cannabis company is urging a New Jersey federal court to pause an upcoming arbitration proceeding with a United Food and Commercial Workers local over its firing of several employees, claiming that it had been coerced into entering an agreement with the union by an unconstitutional state law.

  • December 10, 2025

    Gov't Urges Justices To Review ERISA Pleading Standard Split

    The U.S. solicitor general and the solicitor of labor said the U.S. Supreme Court needs to clarify that workers must back their suits targeting underperforming retirement funds with proper comparison proof, urging the justices to take up a case taking aim at Parker-Hannifin Corp.'s retirement plan management.

  • December 10, 2025

    Judge Weighs Security Claims In Federal Bargaining Case

    A D.C. federal judge declined to immediately reinstate collective bargaining agreements for U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and National Weather Service employees Wednesday, saying the case brought by the workers was more "complicated" and "difficult" than other federal worker bargaining suits he'd recently enjoined.

  • December 10, 2025

    AFA-CWA Must Face Conspiracy Claims From SkyWest Group

    The Association of Flight Attendants must keep facing allegations that it conspired with SkyWest workers to access confidential information held by SkyWest's employee group during an organizing drive, a Utah federal judge has ruled, preserving the SkyWest Inflight Association's conspiracy counterclaims against the Communications Workers of America-affiliated union.

  • December 10, 2025

    Minneapolis Schools' Teacher Layoff Policy Biased, DOJ Says

    The U.S. Department of Justice told a Minnesota federal court that Minneapolis Public Schools has union-negotiated rules that give employees from underrepresented backgrounds an illegal leg up when decisions about layoffs are made.

  • December 10, 2025

    6th Circ. Mulls NLRB's Injunction Burden After Justices' Tweak

    A Sixth Circuit panel on Wednesday probed a judge's inference that Michigan hospital workers would suffer without an order making their employer resume dealing with their union in the circuit's first National Labor Relations Board injunction case since the U.S. Supreme Court altered the courts' test last year.

  • December 10, 2025

    Utah Lawmakers Repeal Public-Sector Bargaining Ban

    The Utah Legislature has voted to repeal a controversial bill that banned public-sector unions from collective bargaining, a move that comes after months of backlash from labor unions.

  • December 10, 2025

    4th Circ. Icy To Reviving Retired Miners' Health Coverage Fight

    The Fourth Circuit seemed disinclined Wednesday to reopen a dispute over lifetime retirement health and life insurance benefits from a proposed class of retired coal miners, as two judges knocked the coal company's attempt to pick apart the results of a seven-day bench trial that broadly favored them.

  • December 10, 2025

    Unions Push For New Block On Federal Worker Layoffs

    A California federal judge who blocked State Department layoffs set for Dec. 5 should halt the government from dismissing any Education and State Department employees until Jan. 30, a union coalition argued, saying Congress set that timeline in its appropriations bill and the government is trying to defy it.

Expert Analysis

  • NYC Hotel Licensing Law's Costs May Outweigh Its Benefits

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    A hotel licensing bill recently approved by New York's City Council could lead to the loss of many nonunionized hotels that cannot afford to comply, says Stuart Saft at Holland & Knight.

  • How The Presidential Election Will Affect Workplace AI Regs

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    The U.S. has so far adopted a light-handed approach to regulating artificial intelligence in the labor and employment area, but the presidential election is unlikely to have as dramatic of an effect on AI regulations as it may on other labor and employment matters, say attorneys at Littler.

  • 8 Phrases Employers May Hear This Election Season

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    From sentiments about the First Amendment to questions about political paraphernalia, attorneys at Venable discuss several scenarios related to politics and voting that may arise in the workplace as election season comes to a head, and share guidance for handling each.

  • Inside FTC's Decision To Exit Key Merger Review Labor Memo

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    Despite the Federal Trade Commission's recent withdrawal from a multiagency memorandum of understanding to step up enforcement of labor issues in merger investigations, the antitrust agencies aren't likely to give up their labor market focus, say attorneys at Stinson.

  • Insights From Calif. Public Labor Board's Strike Rights Ruling

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    The California Public Employment Relations Board's recent rejection of a school district's claim that public employees have no right to conduct unfair labor practice strikes signals its interest in fortifying this central labor right — and warns employers to approach potentially protected behavior with caution, say attorneys at Atkinson Andelson.

  • Insurance Considerations For Cos. That May Face Strikes

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    The recent surge in major work stoppages in the U.S. highlights the growing importance of strike preparedness for businesses, which includes understanding strike insurance coverage options, say Chris D’Amour and Brooke Duncan at Adams and Reese.

  • It's Time To Sound The Alarm About Lost Labor Rights

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    In the Fifth Circuit, recent rulings from judges appointed by former President Donald Trump have dismantled workers’ core labor rights, a troubling trend that we cannot risk extending under another Trump administration, say Sharon Block and Raj Nayak at the Center for Labor and a Just Economy.

  • Insights On NLRB General Counsel's New 'Stay-Or-Pay' Memo

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    Attorneys at Davis Wright discuss the National Labor Relations Board general counsel's new memorandum on employer “stay-or-pay” policies and noncompete agreements, and explain key takeaways concerning the proposed financial remedies, prosecution framework and more.

  • Review Shipping Terms In Light Of These 3 Global Challenges

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    Given tensions in the Middle East, labor unrest at U.S. ports and the ongoing consequences of climate change, parties involved in maritime shipping must understand the relevant contract provisions and laws that may be implicated during supply chain disruptions in order to mitigate risks, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Politics In California Workplaces: What Employers Must Know

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    As the election looms, it is critical that California employers ensure their compliance with state laws providing robust protections for employees' political activity — including antidiscrimination laws, off-duty conduct laws, employee voting leave laws and more, say Bradford Kelley and Britney Torres at Littler.

  • Licensing And Protections For Voice Actors In The Age Of AI

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    While two recently enacted California laws and other recent state and federal legislation largely focus on protecting actors and musicians from the unauthorized use of their digital likenesses by generative artificial intelligence systems, the lesser-known community of professional voice actors also stands to benefit, says attorney Scott Mortman.

  • How Cos. Can Protect Supply Chains During The Port Strike

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    With dock workers at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts launching a strike that will likely cause severe supply chain disruptions, there are several steps exporters and importers can take to protect their businesses and mitigate increased costs, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • How NLRB Memo Balances Schools' Labor, Privacy Concerns

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    Natale DiNatale at Robinson & Cole highlights the recent National Labor Relations Board advice memorandum that aims to help colleges reconcile competing obligations under the National Labor Relations Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as university students flock toward unionization.

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