Labor

  • December 10, 2024

    NLRB Tees Up Boston Hotel's Union Certification Fight

    A Boston hotel illegally refused to bargain with a UNITE HERE local, the National Labor Relations Board found Tuesday, giving the hotel a pathway to challenge the union's certification in federal court and rejecting its constitutional claims against the agency.

  • December 10, 2024

    AFL-CIO Backs DOL In Effort To Keep H-2A Labor Rule Alive

    The AFL-CIO on Tuesday backed the U.S. Department of Labor's efforts to toss a suit in North Carolina federal court challenging the department's final rule protecting union-related activities for agricultural workers on seasonal H-2A visas, saying that it doesn't violate federal labor law.

  • December 10, 2024

    Labor Judges' Removal Ruling 'Pyrrhic' Without Injunction

    A federal judge's ruling Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that a check on the president's power to fire National Labor Relations Boards' judges is unconstitutional may be a meager victory for the agency's legal detractors because it doesn't grant their real prize: a path to block the board from processing cases. 

  • December 10, 2024

    DOE Contractor Can't Stop Deducting Dues, NLRB Judge Says

    A contractor for a U.S. Department of Energy nuclear facility in New Mexico violated federal labor law by halting union dues deductions during negotiations, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, citing board precedent requiring employers to continue collecting workers' dues after a contract expires.

  • December 10, 2024

    6th Circ. Judges Doubt Engineers' Claims Avoid Labor Act

    Sixth Circuit judges on Tuesday sounded skeptical that a group of auto engineers' claims over a bribery scheme between the United Auto Workers union and Fiat Chrysler, which the engineers allege negatively affected their employment, wouldn't be based on their collective bargaining agreement and thus preempted by federal labor law.

  • December 10, 2024

    NJ Panel Revives Union's Suit Over Sick Leave Policies

    A New Jersey appeals court upended Jersey City's win in a firefighters union's lawsuit challenging two city policies pertaining to sick leave, finding Tuesday the union put forward enough information to defeat the city's dismissal bid.

  • December 10, 2024

    9th Circ. OKs Dues Language In Allegiant Union Contract

    Allegiant Air and a Transport Workers Union local can keep their victory over a challenge to the dues provision of their collective bargaining agreement, the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday, upholding a California federal judge's ruling that the provision's language is legal under the Railway Labor Act.

  • December 10, 2024

    $24.6B Kroger-Albertsons Merger Blocked By 2 Judges

    Kroger's planned $24.6 billion purchase of Albertsons suffered double whammy blows Tuesday, first from an Oregon federal judge who temporarily blocked the deal in a Federal Trade Commission challenge, and then from a Washington state judge who sided with the state's attorney general and issued a permanent, national block.

  • December 10, 2024

    Calif. Tribe Can't Vacate Card Check Award, Judge Says

    An arbitration award requiring UNITE HERE and a California tribe that owns a casino to follow a representation process with a card check procedure stands, a federal district court judge ruled, finding the arbitrator's decision was rational.

  • December 10, 2024

    NLRB Reworks Standard For Employers' Unilateral Changes

    The National Labor Relations Board made it more difficult Tuesday for employers to make changes to their employees' working conditions without approval from their union, replacing a Trump-era standard that strengthened management rights clauses in labor contracts.

  • December 10, 2024

    Ill. Steelmaker Fired Workers For Striking, NLRB Judge Says

    An Illinois steel manufacturer must reinstate six employees who were fired after they walked off the job to protest their work conditions, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, saying the firings violated the National Labor Relations Act.

  • December 10, 2024

    Conn. AG Invited To Weigh In On Nurses Union's OT Dispute

    A Connecticut federal judge has given the state's attorney general a chance to intervene in a nurses union's suit against a hospital over its practice of requiring nurses to work overtime, saying the constitutionality of a new state statute is at the heart of this dispute.

  • December 10, 2024

    NLRB Judge Protections Get Ax In Constitutional Challenge

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Tuesday sided with a Massachusetts hospital in its challenge to National Labor Relations Board judges' job protections, saying the board's judges must be removable at will, but stopping short of holding that their protections are a basis for blocking cases they're currently hearing.

  • December 09, 2024

    3rd Circ. Affirms NLRB's COVID-19 Bonus Pay Order

    The Third Circuit upheld on Monday a National Labor Relations Board decision finding a New Jersey nursing home illegally cut or stopped COVID-19 bonuses for unionized workers, supporting the board's assertion that the bonuses were hazard pay that the company was required to negotiate with the union.

  • December 09, 2024

    NLRB Attys Say Co. Wasn't Owed Hearing In Broken Deal Case

    The National Labor Relations Board wasn't required to hold a hearing before finding an Illinois plumbing and fire suppression company violated its settlement with a plumbers local, the board told the Seventh Circuit, asking the court to reject the company's argument that its due process rights were violated.

  • December 09, 2024

    Trade Groups Unharmed By Wage Rule Changes, DOL Says

    The U.S. Department of Labor urged a Texas federal court to grant it a win in two trade associations' lawsuit over its final rule updating prevailing wage rates for federal construction projects, saying the groups can't show they are harmed by these Davis-Bacon Act changes.

  • December 09, 2024

    Justices Pan Broadway Producer's Blacklist Suit Revival Bid

    The U.S. Supreme Court has dashed a Broadway producer's hopes that it would breathe new life into his claims accusing a stage workers union of breaking antitrust laws by discouraging members from working with him following complaints about unpaid wages.

  • December 09, 2024

    NLRB Nixes Chemical Co.'s Bid To Toss Bargaining Remedy

    A chemical manufacturer's Seventh Amendment claim won't stop agency prosecutors' request for a remedy requiring the company to pay for lost bargaining opportunities, a divided National Labor Relations Board panel determined, saying the U.S. Supreme Court has blessed the lack of a jury trial in board cases.

  • December 09, 2024

    Union Says Flight Attendant Withdrew Grievance, Can't Sue

    A United Airlines flight attendant withdrew the grievance she filed after getting fired over a 2021 passenger confrontation regarding mask compliance, and thus gave up her shot to sue her union, the union told a Colorado federal court, seeking to dismiss the worker's fair representation allegations.

  • December 06, 2024

    AFL-CIO Says Lighting Co. Shouldn't Get NLRB Suit Block

    The AFL-CIO has backed the National Labor Relations Board in opposing a lighting company's attempt to block the agency from pursuing a case against it over what the company alleges are unconstitutional removal protections of its members, saying the company hasn't met its burden of showing the president wanted to fire board members.

  • December 06, 2024

    Teamsters Say Amazon Must Plan Bargaining By Dec. 15

    Teamsters leaders announced Friday that they've given Amazon until Dec. 15 to agree to bargaining dates for a first contract, saying the company will "face the consequences of its inaction" if it does not.

  • December 06, 2024

    SAG-AFTRA Plan Left Data Exposed To Breach, Members Say

    The SAG-AFTRA Health Plan lacked adequate security to keep personal information safe from a September data breach, two members alleged in California federal court, saying a proposed class is at risk for a "full gamut of cyber-crimes," including identity theft and phishing scams.

  • December 06, 2024

    Possible Firings Could Mean 'Chaos' At Labor Board

    President-elect Donald Trump is considering the unprecedented move of firing the National Labor Relations Board's Democratic members, which could hamper the agency and kick off a legal battle with far-reaching consequences.

  • December 06, 2024

    Nurses Union's OT Suit Must Be Tossed, Hospital Says

    A hospital urged a Connecticut federal court to throw out a nurses union's lawsuit that seeks to bar the hospital from forcing nurses to work overtime, saying the union's attempt to invoke a state law flies in the face of the terms set out in a collective bargaining agreement.

  • December 06, 2024

    Boilermakers Ex-President Loses Appeal Fighting Ouster

    A panel of International Brotherhood of Boilermakers vice presidents had the power to oust the union's president on corruption charges, the Tenth Circuit held, affirming a Kansas federal judge's ruling.

Expert Analysis

  • 2026 World Cup: Companies Face Labor Challenges And More

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    Companies sponsoring or otherwise involved with the 2026 FIFA World Cup — hosted jointly by the U.S., Canada and Mexico — should be proactive in preparing to navigate many legal considerations in immigration, labor management and multijurisdictional workforces surrounding the event, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Eye On Compliance: Workplace March Madness Pools

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    With March Madness set to begin in a few weeks, employers should recognize that workplace sports betting is technically illegal, keeping federal and state gambling laws in mind when determining whether they will permit ever-popular bracket pools, says Laura Stutz at Wilson Elser.

  • There Is No NCAA Supremacy Clause, Especially For NIL

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    A recent Tennessee federal court ruling illustrates the NCAA's problematic position that its member schools should violate state law rather than its rules — and the organization's legal history with the dormant commerce clause raises a fundamental constitutional issue that will have to be resolved before attorneys can navigate NIL with confidence, says Patrick O’Donnell at HWG.

  • Handbook Hot Topics: Workplace AI Risks

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    As generative artificial intelligence tools penetrate workplaces, employers should incorporate sound AI policies and procedures in their handbooks in order to mitigate liability risks, maintain control of the technology, and protect their brands, says Laura Corvo at White and Williams.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Investigation Lessons In 'Minority Report'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper discuss how themes in Steven Spielberg's Science Fiction masterpiece "Minority Report" — including prediction, prevention and the fallibility of systems — can have real-life implications in workplace investigations.

  • NCAA's Antitrust Litigation History Offers Clues For NIL Case

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    Attorneys at Perkins Coie analyze the NCAA's long history of antitrust litigation to predict how state attorney general claims against NCAA recruiting rules surrounding name, image and likeness discussions will stand up in Tennessee federal court.

  • SAG-AFTRA Contract Is A Landmark For AI And IP Interplay

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    SAG-AFTRA's recently ratified contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers introduced a framework to safeguard performers' intellectual property rights and set the stage for future discussions on how those rights interact with artificial intelligence — which should put entertainment businesses on alert for compliance, says Evynne Grover at QBE.

  • How Dartmouth Ruling Fits In NLRB Student-Athlete Playbook

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    A groundbreaking decision from a National Labor Relations Board official on Feb. 5 — finding that Dartmouth men's basketball players are employees who can unionize — marks the latest development in the board’s push to bring student-athletes within the ambit of federal labor law, and could stimulate unionization efforts in other athletic programs, say Jennifer Cluverius and Patrick Wilson at Maynard Nexsen.

  • What's At Stake In High Court NLRB Injunction Case

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    William Baker at Wigdor examines the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to hear Starbucks v. McKinney — where it will consider a long-standing circuit split over the standard for evaluating National Labor Relations Board injunction bids — and explains why the justices’ eventual decision, either way, is unlikely to be a significant blow to labor.

  • Employer Lessons From NLRB Judge's Union Bias Ruling

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    A National Labor Relations Board judge’s recent decision that a Virginia drywall contractor unlawfully transferred and fired workers who made union pay complaints illustrates valuable lessons about how employers should respond to protected labor activity and federal labor investigations, says Kenneth Jenero at Holland & Knight.

  • Workplace Speech Policies Limit Legal And PR Risks

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    As workers increasingly speak out on controversies like the 2024 elections and the Israel-Hamas war, companies should implement practical workplace expression policies and plans to protect their brands and mitigate the risk of violating federal and state anti-discrimination and free speech laws, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Where Justices Stand On Chevron Doctrine Post-Argument

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    Following recent oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court, at least four justices appear to be in favor of overturning the long-standing Chevron deference, and three justices seem ready to uphold it, which means the ultimate decision may rest on Chief Justice John Roberts' vote, say Wayne D'Angelo and Zachary Lee at Kelley Drye.

  • Trends That Will Shape The Construction Industry In 2024

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    Though the outlook for the construction industry is mixed, it is clear that 2024 will bring evolving changes aimed at building projects more safely and efficiently under difficult circumstances, and stakeholders would be wise to prepare for the challenges and opportunities these trends will bring, say Josephine Bahn and Jeffery Mullen at Cozen O'Connor.

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