Labor

  • December 17, 2024

    NLRB Orders Rerun Election At USC Clinic Over Threats

    The National Labor Relations Board called for another representation election at a University of Southern California health clinic after it threatened to erode benefits just ahead of a union's loss, but the board rejected a judge's recommendation to educate the voters about their labor rights.

  • December 17, 2024

    NLRB Says Distillery Gave Raises To Undercut Union Support

    The National Labor Relations Board has ordered a Kentucky distillery to bargain with a Teamsters local, agreeing with an agency judge that the raises and free bourbon the distillery handed out in November 2022 was an illegal attempt to undermine the union organizing campaign.

  • December 17, 2024

    Groups Want Win In Partially Blocked Prevailing Wage Rule

    The U.S. Department of Labor's final rule updating how prevailing wages are calculated under the Davis-Bacon Act should sink because it is arbitrary and capricious, a group of construction groups said, urging a Texas court to ax the rule after it partially blocked it.

  • December 16, 2024

    Amazon Puts Speed Over Worker Safety, Sanders Report Says

    Amazon prioritizes speed and profit over warehouse workers' safety, and the company has ignored its own internal studies on how to improve workplace safety, according to a report Sen. Bernie Sanders has released that Amazon vehemently derided late Monday as an attempt to support a false "preconceived narrative."

  • December 16, 2024

    Starbucks Made Illegal Posts On Website, NLRB Judge Says

    Starbucks must take down statements on a company website unveiled during Workers United's organizing campaign that offered training and improved benefits, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Monday, finding the coffee chain must post a notice nationwide that its comments violate federal labor law.

  • December 16, 2024

    Pa. Archaeologists Can Vote On Teamsters Representation

    A National Labor Relations Board official cleared archaeologists and cultural resources technicians at a Pennsylvania environmental consulting company to vote on union representation, saying one archaeologist is a union-ineligible supervisor and another may be, but the rest of the workers are not.

  • December 16, 2024

    Albertsons Says Kroger 'Squandered' $25B Merger Bid

    The Kroger Co. Inc. "willfully squandered" opportunities to complete a now-blocked $24.6 billion mega-merger with Albertsons Cos. Inc., according to an unsealed five-count lawsuit in Delaware's Court of Chancery potentially seeking billions in damages.

  • December 16, 2024

    Justices Cite Loper Bright, Remand NLRB Successor Bar Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court remanded an NLRB dispute Monday about a Puerto Rico hospital's liability for withdrawing recognition from a union under the agency's successor bar standard, telling the D.C. Circuit to review its deference to the board under Loper Bright.

  • December 16, 2024

    Union Wins Fight To Arbitrate Nuclear Plant Healthcare Dispute

    An International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local has won its fight to get a nuclear power plant operator to arbitrate a grievance over the company's 2022 healthcare contributions, with a Pennsylvania federal judge adopting a magistrate judge's recommendation to award a win to the union.

  • December 16, 2024

    K&L Gates Adds Hirschfeld Kraemer Employment Pro In LA

    K&L Gates LLP continues expanding its labor and employment team, bringing in a Hirschfeld Kraemer LLP employment litigator as a partner in its Los Angeles office.

  • December 13, 2024

    DC Circ. Upholds NLRB In Puerto Rico Hospital Layoff Case

    A San Juan, Puerto Rico, hospital illegally laid off its janitors and contracted out their work without bargaining with their union, the D.C. Circuit ruled Friday, upholding the National Labor Relations Board's decision in the case.

  • December 13, 2024

    NLRB Says Builder Refused To Bargain After Decert. Denial

    The National Labor Relations Board said Friday that a Michigan builder violated federal labor law by ceasing to recognize and refusing to bargain with an established union, teeing up a possible court review of a prior board decision tossing a decertification push due to the company's alleged labor violations.

  • December 13, 2024

    7th Circ. Nixes NLRB Order Against Surgery Center

    An Indianapolis surgery center was within its rights to fire an employee accused of goofing off during a surgery, the Seventh Circuit ruled, overturning the National Labor Relations Board's finding that the facility actually fired the employee for raising concerns about workers' unlicensed use of X-ray equipment.

  • December 13, 2024

    NY Forecast: 2nd Circ. Hears School District Retaliation Suit

    This week, the Second Circuit will consider a former Connecticut school district executive's attempt to revive her lawsuit alleging she was fired in retaliation for filing a complaint claiming she was passed over for a promotion due to her race and gender. Here, Law360 looks at this and other cases on the docket in New York.

  • December 13, 2024

    Worker Fired For Union Activity, Not Vax Status, Court Agrees

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday upheld a National Labor Relations Board decision that a commercial property management firm illegally fired a union supporter, finding "substantial evidence" the firing was based on the worker's union support and not his COVID-19 vaccination status.

  • December 13, 2024

    Vanderbilt Can Keep Student Info From NLRB, Union

    The National Labor Relations Board can't make Vanderbilt University provide personal information about graduate student workers for a representation election case, a Tennessee federal judge ruled, siding with the school's concerns that giving these details could violate a federal education privacy law.

  • December 13, 2024

    NLRB Says Locker Co. Must Bargain After Fighting Union

    An Indiana locker manufacturer must recognize and bargain with a Teamsters local after retaliating against the union during an organizing campaign and the union's loss of a representation election, the National Relations Board ruled, saying the company's conduct tainted the laboratory conditions necessary for a fair vote.

  • December 13, 2024

    Calif. Forecast: Apple Wants Wage Collective Decertified

    In the next two weeks, attorneys should keep an eye out for the fate of a decertification bid in a wage and hour collective action against Apple. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters coming up in California.

  • December 13, 2024

    Workers Hit Cisco With Claims Of Anti-Palestinian Bias

    A group of current and former Cisco workers lodged charges with workplace discrimination and labor regulators accusing the company of allowing Palestinian employees to be harassed for criticizing its decision to provide technology to the Israeli military in its war with Hamas.

  • December 12, 2024

    WGA Urges Major Studios To Take Legal Action Over AI 'Theft'

    The Writers Guild of America on Wednesday called on several major entertainment studios to swiftly take legal action against technology companies they assert are stealing writers' works to train artificial intelligence systems and making billions of dollars from the "wholesale theft."

  • December 12, 2024

    SpaceX Says 5th Circ. Must Bless Injunction Against NLRB

    SpaceX and two other companies called on the Fifth Circuit to uphold district court injunctions halting National Labor Relations Board cases against them, with the employers saying they are likely to show board members and administrative law judges are unconstitutionally shielded from removal by the president.

  • December 12, 2024

    NLRB's Bargaining Waiver Shift May Be Short-Lived

    The National Labor Relations Board overturned a Trump-era standard making it easier for employers to defend making changes to working conditions without bargaining with their workers' union, but experts said the impact of the long-awaited move could be minimal with a Republican board looming.

  • December 12, 2024

    NLRB Affirms Result Of Charlotte Airport Workers' Union Vote

    A National Labor Relations Board official properly oversaw a union representation election for a group of cargo handlers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the NLRB ruled, holding that the workers are subject to the National Labor Relations Act rather than the Railway Labor Act.

  • December 12, 2024

    'Love Is Blind' Cast Members Are Employees, NLRB GC Says

    Cast members of the Netflix reality series "Love Is Blind" are employees under federal labor law, the NLRB's Minneapolis office alleged in a complaint obtained by Law360, claiming the producers have unlawful provisions in agreements demanding thousands of dollars if participants quit the reality show or breach the pacts.

  • December 12, 2024

    Political Consultant Beats Union President's Defamation Suit

    A Washington federal judge has tossed a United Food and Commercial Workers official's suit against a political consultant, holding that she did not prove the consultant defamed her by distributing a flyer accusing her of corruption ahead of a potential merger of union locals.

Expert Analysis

  • Recalling USWNT's Legal PR Playbook Amid World Cup Bid

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    As the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team strives to take home another World Cup trophy, their 2022 pay equity settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation serves as a good reminder that winning in the court of public opinion can be more powerful than a victory inside the courtroom, says Hector Valle at Vianovo.

  • The Issues Brewing Around Starbucks Labor Practice Cases

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    Starbucks is faced with fighting off another push for a nationwide injunction against firing any employees that support unionization, and there's a distinct possibility that the company and the National Labor Relations Board could be fighting the same fight over and over in various locations, says Janette Levey at Levey Law.

  • Employer Tips For Fighting Back Against Explosive Verdicts

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    Massive jury verdicts are a product of our time, driven in part by reptile tactics, but employers can build a strategic defense to mitigate the risk of a runaway jury, and develop tools to seek judicial relief in the event of an adverse outcome, say Dawn Solowey and Lynn Kappelman at Seyfarth.

  • Handbook Hot Topics: Changing Status Quo In A Union Shop

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    A recent administrative law decision concerning a dispute between Fortune Media and the NewsGuild of New York is an important reminder to employers with unionized workforces to refrain from making unilateral updates to employee handbooks that will change the terms and conditions of employment, says Jennifer Hataway at Butler Snow.

  • Eye On Compliance: A Shift In Religious Accommodation Law

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    The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Groff v. DeJoy is making it more difficult for employers to deny religious accommodations, and there are three takeaways employers should keep in mind, say William Cook and Matthew High at Wilson Elser.

  • Conflicting NLRB Stances Create Employer Compliance Plight

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    Contradictory positions set forth by the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel — asserted in a recent unfair labor practice judgment against CVS and a pending case against Starbucks — place employers in a no-win dilemma when deciding whether they can provide wage and benefit improvements to both union and nonunion employees, says Alice Stock at Bond Schoeneck.

  • Biden Admin Must Take Action On Worker Surveillance

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    As companies increasingly use electronic surveillance to monitor employees, speed up work and quash organizing efforts, the Biden administration should use its well-established regulatory authority to study the problem and protect worker safety, say Matt Scherer at the Center for Democracy and Technology, and Reed Shaw at Governing for Impact.

  • Novel NLRB Action Highlights Aggressive Noncompete Stance

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    While a first-of-its-kind noncompete complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board general counsel against a Michigan cannabis processor recently resulted in a private settlement, the action shows how broadly the general counsel views her authority over such covenants and how vigorously she intends to exercise it, say Erik Weibust and Erin Schaefer at Epstein Becker.

  • New NLRB Bench Book Is An Important Read For Practitioners

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    Though the National Labor Relations Board's Bench Book is aimed at administrative law judges who adjudicate unfair labor practice hearings, key updates in its 2023 edition offer crucial reading for anyone who handles charges before the agency, say David Pryzbylski and Thomas Payne at Barnes & Thornburg.

  • Eye On Compliance: An NLRB Primer For Private Employers

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    Many employers, especially those with nonunionized workforces, may not realize they are subject to federal labor law, but with a recent flurry of precedent-changing rulings from the National Labor Relations, understanding how to comply with the National Labor Relations Act may now be more important than ever, says Bruno Katz at Wilson Elser.

  • NBA Players Must Avoid Legal Fouls In CBD Deals

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    The NBA’s recently ratified collective bargaining agreement allows athletes to promote CBD brands and products, but athletes and the companies they promote must be cautious of a complex patchwork of applicable state laws and federal regulators’ approach to advertising claims, says Airina Rodrigues at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • Labor Law Lessons From NLRB Judge's Bargaining Order

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    A National Labor Relations Board judge’s recent decision to issue a so-called Gissel bargaining order against IBN Construction is a reminder that a company’s unfair labor practices may not just result in traditional remedies, but could also lead to union certification, says Andrew MacDonald at Fox Rothschild.

  • PGA, LIV Tie-Up Might Foreshadow Future Of Women's Soccer

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    The pending merger between PGA Tour and LIV Golf is entirely consistent with the history of American professional sports leagues that faced upstart competitors, and is a warning about the forthcoming competition between the National Women's Soccer League and the USL Super League, says Christopher Deubert at Constangy Brooks.

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