Labor

  • January 08, 2025

    Workers File Petition To Join UAW At Ky. EV Battery Maker

    The United Auto Workers are looking to bring the employees of a new electric vehicle battery manufacturer into the fold in 2025, announcing Wednesday that workers at the soon-to-open BlueOval SK plant in Glendale, Kentucky, filed a petition for a union representation election with the National Labor Relations Board.

  • January 08, 2025

    Ex-MGM Worker Had 'God-Given Right' To Skip Vax, Jury Told

    An attorney for a fired MGM Grand Detroit warehouse manager harked back to the American Revolution to try to persuade a Michigan federal jury during opening statements that his client was wrongfully denied an exemption from the casino's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

  • January 08, 2025

    Welch's Asks 3rd Circ. To Nix Alleged Harasser Rehire Order

    Welch's is asking the Third Circuit to undo a September order from a Pennsylvania judge requiring it to rehire a worker fired for allegedly sexually harassing a co-worker, saying the labor arbitrator who issued the decision failed to make a clear finding of fact both initially and on remand.

  • January 08, 2025

    NJ Marriott Hotel Operator Must Rehire Union Supporters

    The operator of a Marriott hotel in New Jersey must reinstate the six union supporters it fired in 2023 and bargain with the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, a New Jersey federal judge has ruled, granting a National Labor Relations Board official's petition for an injunction. 

  • January 08, 2025

    NLRB Judge OKs Apple's Firing Of Mass-Emailing Engineer

    Apple was within its rights under federal labor law to terminate a California-based software engineer who raised concerns about her workplace in mass emails, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, saying the worker wasn't bringing complaints on behalf of other employees.

  • January 07, 2025

    Amazon's Internal Posting Rules Are Illegal, NLRB Judge Says

    Amazon unlawfully maintained rules restricting workers' communications on an internal digital whiteboard, a National Labor Relations Board judge concluded Tuesday, ordering the e-commerce giant to post a notice at facilities nationwide where the platform was used.

  • January 07, 2025

    McDermott Hires Polsinelli Labor Attorney As Partner In DC

    McDermott Will & Emery has brought on a Polsinelli shareholder as a partner in its Washington, D.C., office, where he will specialize in representing healthcare companies as part of the firm's employment practice group. 

  • January 07, 2025

    Trade Orgs. Fight DOL's Bid To Ax Prevailing Wage Rule Suit

    Two construction groups pressed a Texas federal court to grant them a win in their challenge to the U.S. Department of Labor's final rule updating how prevailing wage rates are calculated under the Davis-Bacon Act, rejecting the department's argument that they couldn't sue.

  • January 07, 2025

    End Of McFerran's Term Warrants New NLRB Order, Cos. Say

    The National Labor Relations Board must reconsider a decision it released after former Chairman Lauren McFerran's term expired last month, two electrical contractors argued, alleging the order that revived union election petitions can't stand.

  • January 07, 2025

    Amazon Fights Claims Of Retaliation Against Worker Protest

    Amazon placed a former employee on a performance improvement plan not to punish her for co-organizing a walkout but because she struggled in her role, the company told a National Labor Relations Board judge, requesting dismissal of board prosecutors' claims of retaliation against the worker.

  • January 06, 2025

    Wash. Labor Dept. Escapes Union's Farm Wage Challenge

    A Washington federal judge on Monday cut the state's employment agency loose from a union challenge to policies that have allegedly depressed farmworker wages, saying the U.S. Department of Labor is the only proper defendant in the litigation.

  • January 06, 2025

    Another Building Contractor Agrees To End No-Hire Pacts

    The Federal Trade Commission said Monday that Planned Building Services has agreed not to enforce terms in its contracts that prevent building owners from hiring the service contractor's workers, in a second recent case targeting the building services industry.

  • January 06, 2025

    Pa. Paper Fights NLRB's 'Rare' Injunction Bid At 3rd Circ.

    The publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette challenged the National Labor Relations Board's "rare" injunction motion to make it bargain with a union and rescind unilateral changes to healthcare benefits, telling the Third Circuit that the newspaper lawfully asserted an impasse in talks.

  • January 06, 2025

    Biden OKs Social Security Fix In Move Cheered By Unions

    Former government employees who have had their Social Security checks slashed because they receive a pension will see larger payouts this year now that President Joe Biden signed a bill repealing the decades-old benefit cuts, a move applauded by government employee unions.

  • January 06, 2025

    Tool Co.'s Labor Subpoenas Were Illegal, NLRB Judge Says

    An Indiana tool company used National Labor Relations Board litigation against it as an opportunity to pry into two former employees' union activity, a NLRB judge has ruled, finding the company served the workers with invasive subpoenas during the discovery phase of the case.

  • January 03, 2025

    Google Accused Of Refusing To Bargain With Contractor Unit

    National Labor Relations Board prosecutors have accused Google of violating a duty to bargain with unionized workers at one of its contractors, teeing up a challenge to an official's ruling that the tech giant is the workers' joint employer.

  • January 03, 2025

    NY Nursing Home Blames AG's 'Crusade' For Ch. 11

    The owner of a 588-bed nursing facility on Long Island has filed for Chapter 11 protection in a New York bankruptcy court with more than $58 million in debt, saying it was the victim of a "crusade" and "smear campaign" launched by the state attorney general's office.

  • January 03, 2025

    Calif. Captive Audience Meeting Ban Hit With Legal Challenge

    Two California business groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the state's new ban on so-called captive audience meetings, saying the statute is preempted by federal law and interferes with companies' constitutional rights to express their views on unionization.

  • January 03, 2025

    Laborers Benefit Funds Get OK For $4.7M Class Settlement

    A New York federal judge signed off on a $4.7 million settlement of a long-running dispute between a class of workers and two union benefit funds, giving final approval to a deal that ends 16 years of litigation over a transfer of money between funds in the 2000s.

  • January 03, 2025

    NLRB Official Approves Union Vote At W.Va. Health Center

    Workers at a West Virginia nonprofit behavioral health center for adults with intellectual disabilities can vote on union representation, a National Labor Relations Board official ruled, rejecting the nonprofit's argument that the union should also include workers at two other facilities in the state.

  • January 02, 2025

    9th Circ. Revives Cos.' Suit Over Unions' SeaWorld Lobbying

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived part of a hotel operator's suit accusing two unions of thwarting its efforts to develop two San Diego properties, saying the district court prematurely dismissed a claim that the unions abused their protest rights to stop a project at SeaWorld.

  • January 02, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Nonprofit's Union Dues Deduction Fight

    The Ninth Circuit refused to reinstate a conservative nonprofit's suit accusing Teamsters unions representing Washington state employees of committing constitutional violations by allegedly ignoring the nonprofit's mail containing dues revocation cards, concluding that refusal to accept such mail isn't a state action, and the unions aren't state actors.

  • January 02, 2025

    NLRB Judge Says Employment Pact Case Hit Wrong Employer

    A National Labor Relations Board judge has recommended dismissing a case accusing a New York City hospital system of including unlawful language in its employment contracts, saying agency prosecutors did not show that the hospital system employs the part-time physicians at issue in the case.

  • January 02, 2025

    Saxton & Stump Adds Employment Atty In 2-Pronged Position

    A veteran employment attorney will pull double duty in her new role at Saxton & Stump as part of the Pennsylvania-based firm's employment team and as an adviser for its affiliate human resources consulting company.

  • January 02, 2025

    Dartmouth Men's Basketball Players End Unionization Push

    The men's basketball players behind a union push at Dartmouth College have ended that effort amid uncertainty over whether a Republican-led labor board would uphold the landmark decision that let them vote to unionize.

Expert Analysis

  • 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 Lawrence & Bundy.

  • NLRB Likely To Fill Vacuum After NMB Jurisdiction Ruling

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    The National Mediation Board's recent ruling in Swissport Cargo Services LP abandoned decades of precedent by concluding the Railway Labor Act doesn’t apply to airline service providers, likely leading the National Labor Relations Board to assert its jurisdiction instead and potentially causing more operational disruptions and labor strife, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Ring In The New Year With An Updated Employee Handbook

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    One of the best New Year's resolutions employers can make is to update their employee handbooks, given that a handbook can mitigate, or even prevent, costly litigation as long as it accounts for recent changes in laws, court rulings and agency decisions, say attorneys at Kutak Rock.

  • 9 Things To Expect From Trump's Surprising DOL Pick

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    The unexpected nomination of Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., to lead the U.S. Department of Labor reflects a blend of pro-business and pro-labor leanings, and signals that employers should prepare for a mix of continuity and moderate adjustments in the coming years, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

  • Why State Captive Audience Laws Matter After NLRB Decision

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    As employers focus on complying with the National Labor Relations Board's new position that captive audience meetings violate federal labor law, they should also be careful not to overlook state captive audience laws that prohibit additional types of company meetings and communications, says Karla Grossenbacher at Seyfarth.

  • Pa. Ruling Highlights Challenges Of Employer Arb. Appeals

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    A Pennsylvania federal court's recent ruling in Welch Foods v. General Teamsters Local Union No. 397 demonstrates the inherent difficulties employers face when seeking relief from labor arbitration decisions through appeals in court — and underscores how employers are faced with often conflicting legal priorities, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

  • NLRB One-Two Punch Curbs Employer Anti-Organizing Tools

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    The National Labor Relations Board’s recent decisions in Siren Retail and Amazon, limiting employer speech about the impact of unionization and outlawing captive audience meetings, severely curtail employers' arsenal of tools to combat an organizing campaign — though this may soon change under a new administration, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Timing Of An NLRB Power Shift Hinges On Biden Nominees

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    President-elect Donald Trump seems certain to shake up the National Labor Relations Board's prounion Democrat majority, but the incoming president's timing depends on whether the current Senate confirms two pending nominees to board positions, say attorneys at Fox Rothschild.

  • 5 Tips For Complying With NLRB Captive Audience Ban

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    The National Labor Relations Board’s recently ruled that so-called captive audience meetings violate federal labor law, representing a radical shift in precedent and creating new standards for employers to follow when holding workplace meetings where union representation will be discussed, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

  • Expect More State-Level Scrutiny Of Noncompetes Ahead

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    Despite the nationwide injunction against the Federal Trade Commission’s noncompete ban, and the incoming Republican administration, employers should anticipate that state legislatures will continue to focus on laws that limit or ban noncompetes, including those that target certain salary thresholds or industries, says Benjamin Fryer at FordHarrison.

  • 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.