Labor
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July 24, 2024
Safeway Gets Early Win In Floor Co.'s SEIU Conspiracy Suit
A floor cleaning company can't pursue its claim that Safeway took part in a civil conspiracy with a Service Employees International Union affiliate to award a contract to a competitor, a California federal judge ruled.
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July 24, 2024
CUNY Profs Ask Justices To Take Challenge To NY Union Law
Six City University of New York professors have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to ax a state law that lets unions represent all employees of certain public-sector workplaces, saying the law violates their First Amendment right to dissociate from advocacy groups that support policies they oppose.
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July 24, 2024
NLRB GC Calls For 'Unprecedented' Remedy, Starbucks Says
Union organizing did not lead Starbucks to combine three stores in Seattle into one corporate unit, the coffee giant argued to a National Labor Relations Board judge, opposing agency prosecutors' bid for various remedies, including an "unprecedented" disbandment of a business operation called the Heritage District.
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July 24, 2024
Starbucks Shorted Union Workers On Raises, Judge Says
Starbucks violated federal labor law by offering smaller raises to employees of stores where workers started a nationwide union drive than it did to nonunion workers, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, recommending a broad cease-and-desist order against the company given its "proclivity" to break the law.
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July 24, 2024
Unions, Energy Groups Back Enbridge 6th Circ. Rehearing Bid
Labor unions and energy industry groups are joining Enbridge Energy's push for the full Sixth Circuit to rehear a panel decision that sent a Michigan lawsuit aiming to shut down the company's Line 5 pipeline back to state courts.
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July 24, 2024
Rising Star: Weil's Rebecca Sivitz
Rebecca Sivitz of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP has helped several companies successfully handle mergers and restructuring, including helping The Kroger Co. face a first-of-its-kind challenge from the Federal Trade Commission, earning her a spot among the employment law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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July 23, 2024
7th Circ. Affirms Ruling Mining Co. Flouted Labor Law
The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday backed the National Labor Relations Board's ruling that a mining company violated federal labor law by unilaterally barring employees from clocking in more than five minutes before their shift, but it denied a union's bid to extend the violation to strike replacements.
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July 23, 2024
Construction Co. Protests Union Clause In Army Corps Deal
Hensel Phelps Construction Co. has protested over terms of an Army Corps of Engineers construction contract requiring bidders to enter into a project labor agreement, mandated by regulation, saying the PLA requirement violates a competitive contracting law.
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July 23, 2024
Hotel Says Justices Must Address NLRB Policy Post-Chevron
The U.S. Supreme Court should step into a dispute over how National Labor Relations Board prosecutors prove that employers harbor anti-union bias, considering the justices just held that courts have greater authority than agencies to interpret federal statutes, a Los Angeles hotel told the high court.
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July 23, 2024
University Of Chicago Union Hit With Antisemitism Claims
A nonprofit advocating for graduate students accused the union representing them at the University of Chicago of antisemitism, claiming the union is violating the First Amendment by making student workers pay fees to continue their employment despite statements the union has made about the war in Gaza.
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July 23, 2024
Chamber Pans NLRB's 'Amorphous' JE Rule Interpretation
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups urged the D.C. Circuit to reject a National Labor Relations Board decision requiring Google and a contractor to bargain with YouTube Music workers, saying the agency relied on an "amorphous conception" of joint employer law in reaching the decision.
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July 23, 2024
Union, Workers Can't Halt Release Of Therapy Docs
An AFL-CIO affiliated union can't stop a utility company from requesting therapy notes from three workers who are trying to return to work from short-term disability, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, saying that there is a lack of irreparable injury.
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July 23, 2024
Senate Dems Roll Out Bill To Codify Chevron Deference
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., led a group of Democratic senators Tuesday in introducing a bill to codify the now-defunct doctrine of Chevron deference after it was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last month.
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July 23, 2024
Co. Illegally Refused To Hire Union Backers, NLRB Judge Says
A heating and air conditioning installation company in Georgia violated federal labor law by refusing to hire workers who were union organizers, a National Labor Relations Board judge found, saying the company's owner made comments showing anti-union bias.
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July 23, 2024
Rising Star: Gibson Dunn's Ryan Stewart
Ryan Stewart of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP helped car rental giant Enterprise dodge $160 million in claims that it illegally collected biometric data from workers when it used their fingerprints to register their arrival at work, on top of other victories he secured for Amazon and sales company Credico, earning him a spot among the employment law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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July 22, 2024
Investment Adviser Seeks To Ax Union Fund's Bad Advice Suit
A union pension fund that claims it lost $30 million due to bad investment advice it received in the mid-2010s missed its chance to challenge that advice, an investment advisory firm argued in California federal court, saying the fund blew past its deadline to sue and didn't qualify for an extension.
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July 22, 2024
NLRB Official Greenlights Union Vote For Ky. Plumbing Techs
A group of plumbing technicians can vote on union representation, a National Labor Relations Board regional director concluded, saying the election will move forward despite a company's claim that "supervisory taint" affected employees' unionization bid.
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July 22, 2024
SAG-AFTRA Beats Vax Mandate Suit In Calif. Federal Court
A California federal judge has tossed a group of SAG-AFTRA members' claims that the union betrayed them by allowing studios to impose vaccine mandates after the pandemic, saying the workers' state-level claims are preempted by the Labor Management Relations Act and a federal-level claim is untimely.
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July 22, 2024
NLRB Dings UFCW Over Ralphs Pact's Subcontracting Clause
A provision dealing with subcontracting work in a contract between seven California United Food and Commercial Workers locals and a Kroger subsidiary violates federal labor law, the National Labor Relations Board determined, with two board members signaling an interest in reviewing the board's analysis for such clauses.
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July 22, 2024
Rising Star: Filippatos' Tanvir H. Rahman
Tanvir Rahman of Filippatos PLLC secured a $12 million settlement for a former Fox News producer who said she was used as a scapegoat during the network's legal battle with Dominion Voting Systems, earning him a spot among the employment law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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July 19, 2024
Meta Separation Deals Were 'Overly Broad,' NLRB Judge Says
Tech giant Meta violated federal labor law by offering laid-off employees separation agreements with "overly broad language" barring them from discussing employment terms or conditions, a National Labor Relations Board judge found on Friday.
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July 19, 2024
Upstate NY Security Guards Can Unionize, NLRB Official Says
A group of security guards at four upstate New York pharmaceutical facilities can vote on union representation, a National Labor Relations Board official said Friday, rejecting their employer's argument that some are union-ineligible supervisors and greenlighting an election for next month.
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July 19, 2024
Going 'Dark': Switching Sides In The Polarized Labor Field
The practice of labor law is defined by its ideological divide, and few attorneys who start on one side of the labor-management split ever move to the other. Those who have say the move can invite scorn from their former side even as it provides professional satisfaction and a unique perspective on the practice.
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July 19, 2024
Restaurant Fired Server For Complaining, NLRB Judge Says
A Minnesota restaurant violated the National Labor Relations Act when it put a former server and bartender on probation and then fired her for complaining about her shifts and wages being cut, a National Labor Relations Board judge found.
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July 19, 2024
NLRB Drops Challenge To Joint Employer Rule Vacatur
The National Labor Relations Board dropped its appeal of a Texas federal judge's decision vacating its rule expanding its definition of joint employer under federal labor law, saying it wants to consider its approach to the policy in light of the court's decision.
![John Minor Wisdom Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Building – New Orleans (iStock.com/Rex_Wholster)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/assets.law360news.com/1861000/1861677/0fc1db2bf6ebea3ab044e95637d918af486f0071-istock-656427940.jpg)
NLRB May Change Tack After Dropped Joint Employer Appeal
The National Labor Relations Board's decision last week to drop its appeal of a Texas federal judge's decision striking down its joint employer regulation leaves the future of the policy uncertain, with experts saying one option is for the board to return to setting the standard by deciding cases.
![A Texas federal judge thinks SpaceX has a strong argument that NLRB members and administrative law judges are unconstitutionally shielded from presidential removal. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/assets.law360news.com/1860000/1860829/097aae9c10fbf314bf575bea991e3993e2c26469-spacex_nlrb_complaint_72850.jpg)
Texas Judge Says SpaceX Will Likely Win NLRB Challenge
A Texas federal judge explained Tuesday why he blocked a case against SpaceX from proceeding before the National Labor Relations Board, saying he thinks the company is likely to win its constitutional challenge to the agency's structure.
![President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at an event where the president signed an Executive Order regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the White House in Washington, DC. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/assets.law360news.com/1860000/1860575/80b5c36391c569c7c9b3d3890cc5958cbb574b2f-president_biden_signs_artificial_intelligence_(ai)_executive_order_92940.jpg)
Labor Begins Move Toward Harris After Biden Withdraws
The labor movement praised President Joe Biden's record in the wake of his announcement Sunday that he will not seek reelection, and began to shift support toward Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.
Expert Analysis
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Justices' Starbucks Ruling May Limit NLRB Injunction Wins
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Starbucks v. McKinney, adopting a more stringent test for National Labor Relations Board Section 10(j) injunctions, may lessen the frequency with which employers must defend against injunctions alongside parallel unfair labor practice charges, say David Pryzbylski and Colleen Schade at Barnes & Thornburg.
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A Way Forward For The US Steel-Nippon Deal And Union Jobs
Parties involved in Nippon Steel's acquisition of U.S. Steel should trust the Pennsylvania federal court overseeing a key environmental settlement to supervise a way of including future union jobs and cleaner air for the city of Pittsburgh as part of a transparent business marriage, says retired judge Susan Braden.
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Big Business May Come To Rue The Post-Administrative State
Many have framed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning Chevron deference and extending the window to challenge regulations as big wins for big business, but sand in the gears of agency rulemaking may be a double-edged sword, creating prolonged uncertainty that impedes businesses’ ability to plan for the future, says Todd Baker at Columbia University.
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After Chevron: Various Paths For Labor And Employment Law
Labor and employment law leans heavily on federal agency guidance, so the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to toss out Chevron deference will ripple through this area, with future workplace policies possibly taking shape through strategic litigation, informal guidance, state-level regulation and more, says Alexander MacDonald at Littler.
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Eye On Compliance: A Brief History Of Joint Employer Rules
It's important to examine the journey of the joint employer rule, because if the National Labor Relations Board's Fifth Circuit appeal is successful and the 2023 version is made law, virtually every employer who contracts for labor likely could be deemed a joint employer, say Bruno Katz and Robert Curtis at Wilson Elser.
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Top 5 Issues For Employers To Audit Midyear
Six months into 2024, developments from federal courts and regulatory agencies should prompt employers to reflect on their progress regarding artificial intelligence, noncompetes, diversity initiatives, religious accommodation and more, say Allegra Lawrence-Hardy and Lisa Haldar at Lawrence & Bundy.
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Crafting An Effective Workplace AI Policy After DOL Guidance
Employers should take proactive steps to minimize their liability risk after the U.S. Department of Labor released artificial intelligence guidance principles on May 16, reflecting the reality that companies must begin putting into place policies that will dictate their expectations for how employees will use AI, say David Disler and Courtnie Bolden at Porzio Bromberg.
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Politics In The Workplace: What Employers Need To Know
As the 2024 election approaches and protests continue across the country, employers should be aware of employees' rights — and limits on those rights — related to political speech and activities in the workplace, and be prepared to act proactively to prevent issues before they arise, say attorneys at Littler.
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Cos. Must Stay On Alert With Joint Employer Rule In Flux
While employers may breathe a sigh of relief at recent events blocking the National Labor Relations Board's proposed rule that would make it easier for two entities to be deemed joint employers, the rule is not yet dead, say attorneys at Day Pitney.
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One Contract Fix Can Reduce Employer Lawsuit Exposure
A recent Fifth Circuit ruling that saved FedEx over $365 million highlights how a one-sentence limitation provision on an employment application or in an at-will employment agreement may be the easiest cost-savings measure for employers against legal claims, say Sara O'Keefe and William Wortel at BCLP.
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Water Cooler Talk: Sick Leave Insights From 'Parks And Rec'
Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper spoke with Lisa Whittaker at the J.M. Smucker Co. about how to effectively manage sick leave policies to ensure legal compliance and fairness to all employees, in a discussion inspired by a "Parks and Recreation" episode.
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3 Employer Lessons From NLRB's Complaint Against SpaceX
Severance agreements traditionally have included nondisparagement and nondisclosure provisions as a matter of course — but a recent National Labor Relations Board complaint against SpaceX underscores the ongoing efforts to narrow severance agreements at the state and federal levels, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.
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Time For Congress To Let Qualified Older Pilots Keep Flying
While a previous Law360 guest article affirmed the current law requiring airline pilots to retire at age 65, the facts suggest that the pilots, their unions, the airlines and the flying public will all benefit if Congress allows experienced, medically qualified aviators to stay in the cockpit, say Allen Baker and Bo Ellis at Let Experienced Pilots Fly.