Labor

  • February 14, 2025

    Trump Aims To End Limits On President's Power To Fire

    President Donald Trump has his sights set on taking down a 90-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that protects certain government officials from being fired, a U.S. Department of Justice letter confirms, and he plans to leverage his prior legal victories to deliver the precedent's death knell and expand presidential power.

  • February 14, 2025

    Judge Needs Time To Mull Block On DOGE's Agency Audits

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge said Friday he plans to rule "promptly" on a request by worker and consumer advocates to stop the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing three federal agencies' data but couldn't say when following a wide-ranging hearing on the bid.

  • February 14, 2025

    Judge Rejects NLRB Bid To Reopen Post-Gazette Union Talks

    The publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will not be forced to return to bargaining with several unions representing its striking print production employees, after a federal judge ruled that the National Labor Relations Board had not convinced her that the publisher had bargained in bad faith.

  • February 14, 2025

    Long-Shot Hawley Labor Plan Sign Of GOP Shift On Unions

    Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has drawn attention for a proposal to overhaul federal labor law that has the backing of the Teamsters and other labor unions, but experts view the plan as a long shot to break through the logjam that has blocked other efforts to change the law.

  • February 14, 2025

    Calif. Forecast: $4M Transpo Co. Wage Deal Up For Final OK

    In the coming week, attorneys should keep an eye out for the final approval of a $4 million deal in a wage and hour class action involving transportation company CRST. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters coming up in California.

  • February 14, 2025

    NY Proposal On AI-Related Layoffs Likely A Dud, Attys Say

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal to require businesses to notify the state if artificial intelligence is a factor in certain layoffs or plant closures is probably another public policy misfire in the effort to manage AI's encroachment on the workforce, attorneys say.

  • February 14, 2025

    Construction Groups, DOL Want Pause In DBA Rule Fight

    A challenge to the U.S. Department of Labor's final rule updating the math for Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wages needs to be paused while the department's top brass catches up on the litigation, the DOL and the groups suing told a Texas federal court Friday.

  • February 14, 2025

    NY Forecast: 2nd Circ. Weighs Renewing Firm's Bias Suit

    This week the Second Circuit is to consider whether to revive a lawsuit brought by a former senior vice president at a global investment firm claiming it discriminated against him due to his race and religion and gave him false poor performance reviews before firing him.

  • February 14, 2025

    Trump Illegally Fired FLRA Chair, Suit Says

    The former chair of the Federal Labor Relations Authority is the latest government official to sue President Donald Trump, saying in a complaint filed in D.C. federal court that she was fired illegally.

  • February 13, 2025

    More CFPB Employees Axed As Union Presses For Injunction

    The Trump administration moved late Thursday to slash more of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's workforce, initiating another round of layoffs shortly after lawyers for the agency's union petitioned a D.C. federal court for an emergency injunction to prevent it.

  • February 13, 2025

    Fed. Unions' New Suit Fights Layoffs, Resignation Incentive

    A second group of unions representing federal workers has challenged the Trump administration's attempt to shrink the federal workforce through layoffs and a resignation incentive program, telling a D.C. federal judge that the executive branch's actions violate separation-of-powers principles because Congress largely controls federal agencies.

  • February 13, 2025

    6th Circ. Affirms Toss Of Builders' Challenge To NLRB Memo

    The Sixth Circuit rejected a trade association's constitutional challenge to a memo by the National Labor Relations Board's former general counsel saying she believed that employers violate labor laws when they hold mandatory  meetings discouraging unionization, ruling Thursday that the association lacked standing.

  • February 13, 2025

    Judge Extends Restraining Order On USAID Gutting

    A D.C. federal judge extended his temporary restraining order barring USAID from placing thousands of employees on administrative leave for another week on Thursday, saying he needed more time to rule on the plaintiff employees unions' preliminary injunction request to stop the agency's overhaul while the case proceeds.

  • February 13, 2025

    Ore. Cannabis Labor Pact Law Is Unconstitutional, Cos. Say

    An Oregon state law requiring businesses to have labor peace agreements with unions in order to obtain a license is preempted by federal labor law and violates the 14th Amendment, two cannabis companies argued as they urged a federal court to block enforcement of the law.

  • February 13, 2025

    Amazon Ordered To Restore Unpaid Time Off For Strikers

    Amazon's nationwide unpaid time off policy does not violate federal labor law on its face, a National Labor Relations Board judge concluded, but the company illegally applied the policy by not restoring unpaid time off that was deducted when workers were striking.

  • February 13, 2025

    House Republican Debuts Independent Contractor Status Test

    A U.S. House Republican who has vocally opposed Democratic-backed analyses for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or employee announced two bills related to the issue Thursday, proposing a new worker classification standard in one of the measures.

  • February 13, 2025

    Acting NLRB GC Taps LA Regional Attorney As Deputy

    The National Labor Relations Board's acting general counsel said Thursday that he had chosen a 27-year agency veteran from the Los Angeles office he used to lead to serve as his deputy.

  • February 13, 2025

    Congress' Dems Call For Fired NLRB Member's Reinstatement

    President Donald Trump should immediately reinstate the Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board he fired in January, House and Senate Democrats told the White House on Thursday, saying that leaving the board without a quorum "encourages bad employers to violate the law and trample on workers' rights."

  • February 13, 2025

    6th Circ. Won't Revive Ex-Professor's Promotion Bias Suit

    The Sixth Circuit stood by a lower court's ruling against a Black former English professor at Delta College in her promotion bias suit, ruling that she failed to provide meaningful evidence that she was passed over for a promotion because of her race and her pro-unionization sentiments.

  • February 12, 2025

    Trump's Federal Worker Resignation Offer Gets Green Light

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday lifted an order temporarily blocking President Donald Trump's federal worker "deferred resignation" offer and allowed it to proceed, ruling that unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers don't have standing to challenge the directive.

  • February 12, 2025

    Unions Beef Up Suit To Keep DOGE Out Of Federal Agencies

    Unions and nonprofits seeking to stop Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the U.S. Department of Labor's data have enhanced their injunction request, looking also to shield the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's and Department of Health and Human Services' data and prove they have standing to sue.

  • February 12, 2025

    DOJ Removes For-Cause Protection For FTC, Other Agencies

    The U.S. Department of Justice has determined that for-cause removals for members of the Federal Trade Commission, National Labor Relations Board and Consumer Product Safety Commission are unconstitutional, acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris informed Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., ranking Democrat of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a letter Wednesday.

  • February 12, 2025

    Calif. Captive Meeting Law Can't Be Enforced, Nonprofit Says

    A California law prohibiting so-called captive audience meetings infringes on an employer's First Amendment right to freely talk with workers about religious or political issues, a nonprofit focused on state policy argued in federal court, calling for a halt to the statute's enforcement.

  • February 12, 2025

    GAO Says Navy Mistake Can't Sink $82M Construction Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied a protest over an $82.2 million U.S. Navy construction order, saying the Navy's failure to comply with solicitation requirements when assessing the awardee's project labor agreement did not harm the protester.

  • February 12, 2025

    OPM Violated Employees' Privacy Rights, Unions Say

    The U.S. Office of Personnel Management violated federal privacy laws when it gave Elon Musk's recently established Department of Government Efficiency access to its employment records, unions representing federal employees and administrative law judges said in a lawsuit filed in New York federal court.

Expert Analysis

  • The Future Of ALJs At NLRB And DOL Post-Jarkesy

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    In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 Jarkesy ruling, several ongoing challenges to the constitutionality of the U.S. Department of Labor's and the National Labor Relations Board's administrative law judges have the potential to significantly shape the future of administrative tribunals, say attorneys at Wiley Rein.

  • Water Cooler Talk: 'Harry Potter' Reveals Magic Of Feedback

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    Troutman Pepper's Tracey Diamond and Emily Schifter chat with Wicker Park Group partner Tara Weintritt about various feedback methods used by "Harry Potter" characters — from Snape's sharp and cutting remarks to Dumbledore's lack of specificity and Hermione's poor delivery — and explore how clear, consistent and actionable feedback can transform workplaces.

  • What To Expect From Trump's Deputy Labor Secretary Pick

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    President Donald Trump's nominee for deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, Keith Sonderling, has a track record of prioritizing clear guidance on both traditional and cutting-edge issues, which can provide insight into what employers can expect from his leadership, say attorneys at Littler.

  • A Look At Order Ending Federal Contractor Affirmative Action

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    To comply with President Donald Trump's executive order revoking affirmative action requirements in the next 90 days, federal contractors should focus on identification of protected groups, responsibilities of "diversity officer" positions and annual compliance reviews, says Jeremy Burkhart at Holland & Knight.

  • The Implications Of E-Cigarette Cos. Taking Suits To 5th Circ.

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. R.J. Reynolds over the definition of an "adversely affected" person under the Tobacco Control Act, and the justices' ruling will have important and potentially wide-ranging implications for forum shopping claims, says Trillium Chang at Zuckerman Spaeder.

  • 4 Employment Law Areas Set To Change Under Trump

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    President Donald Trump's second term is expected to bring significant changes to the U.S. employment law landscape, including the potential for updated worker classification regulations, and challenges to diversity, equity and inclusion that are already taking shape, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • 8 Lessons Yellow Corp. Layoffs Can Teach Distressed Cos.

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    A Delaware bankruptcy court’s recent decision, examining trucking company Yellow Corp.’s abrupt termination of roughly 25,500 employees, offers financially distressed businesses a road map for navigating layoffs under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

  • 10 Key Worker-Friendly California Employment Law Updates

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    New employment laws in California expand employee rights, transparency and enforcement mechanisms, and failing to educate department managers on these changes could put employers at risk, says Melanie Ronen at Stradley Ronon.

  • 7 Employment Contracts Issues Facing DOL Scrutiny

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    A growing trend of U.S. Department of Labor enforcement against employment practices that limit workers' rights and avoid legal responsibility shines a light on seven unique contractual provisions that violate federal labor laws, and face agressive litigation from the labor solicitor, says Thomas Starks at Freeman Mathis.

  • How Trump Presidency May Influence NLRB's Next Phase

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    Attorneys at Paul Hastings discuss how last year’s key National Labor Relations Board developments may progress once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, including the wave of lawsuits challenging the board’s constitutionality and two landmark board decisions that upset decades of precedent.

  • How Trump Admin May Approach AI In The Workplace

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    Key indicators suggest that the incoming Trump administration will adopt a deregulatory approach to artificial intelligence, allowing states to fill the void, so it is critical that employers pay close attention to developing legal authority concerning AI tools, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Top 10 Legal Issues This Year For Transportation Industry GCs

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    General counsel must carefully consider numerous legal and policy challenges facing the automotive and transportation industry in the year to come, especially while navigating new technologies, regulations and global markets, says Francesco Liberatore at Squire Patton.

  • Top 10 Employer Resolutions For 2025

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    While companies must monitor for policy shifts under the new administration in 2025, it will also be a year to play it safe and remember the basics, such as the importance of documenting retention policies and conducting swift investigations into workplace complaints, say attorneys at Krevolin Horst.