Labor

  • June 17, 2025

    DC Judge Won't Pause Halt Of State Dept. Union Exec Order

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday chose not to pause an injunction order blocking the U.S. State Department from carrying out President Donald Trump's executive order gutting collective bargaining rights for federal workers, finding the government failed to prove it would face a high level of harm.

  • June 17, 2025

    5th Circ. Won't Resurrect NLRB Captive Audience Memo Suit

    The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday refused to revive a suit over a 2022 memo the National Labor Relations Board's general counsel issued arguing so-called captive audience meetings violate federal labor law, ruling the staffing companies challenging the memo don't have standing to bring their suit.

  • June 17, 2025

    Paths To Challenge Trump In Court Opening For Fed. Workers

    A recent decision from the Fourth Circuit might signal that workers and unions challenging the Trump administration's efforts to trim the federal workforce will have an easier time proceeding in federal court rather than before administrative bodies, experts said.

  • June 17, 2025

    8th Circ. Says NLRB Misapplied Standard In Starbucks Case

    The National Labor Relations Board improperly ignored a Starbucks employee's impression of her manager's comments during a union campaign when concluding the comments were unlawful, a split Eighth Circuit panel ruled Tuesday, resolving a case that challenged the board's standard for determining when an employer's anti-union rhetoric violates labor law.

  • June 17, 2025

    NLRB's SF Office Accuses Amazon Of Illegal Threats, Firings

    Amazon violated federal labor law at a San Francisco warehouse in response to organizing with the Teamsters, National Labor Relations Board prosecutors alleged, claiming the e-commerce giant upped management's presence, threatened employees and fired workers to quell unionization efforts.

  • June 17, 2025

    General Motors Says Precedent 'Eviscerates' EEOC Bias Suit

    General Motors urged an Indiana federal judge Tuesday to toss a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming it discriminated against older workers by reducing disability benefits if they also received Social Security, arguing the policy says nothing about age, allowing it to stand under high court precedent.

  • June 17, 2025

    9th Circ. Backs Class Cert. In Suit Over Diabetes Drug Risk

    The Ninth Circuit refused to disband a class of third-party payors who claim Takeda Pharmaceutical and Eli Lilly & Co. hid their anti-diabetes drug's bladder cancer risks, finding no issue with a lower court's analysis of expert evidence showing prescriptions fell after the risks were disclosed.

  • June 17, 2025

    Teamsters Local Defends Handling Of Bakery Driver's Firing

    A Teamsters local has urged an Ohio federal judge to toss a lawsuit filed by a former driver for a Midwest regional bakery, saying the worker can't back up his claim that the union failed to fight hard enough for his reinstatement.

  • June 17, 2025

    5th Circ. Must Nix NLRB's Rerun Vote Order, Starbucks Says

    Federal labor law is not a "get-out-of-jail-free card" for union activists who violate an employer's policies, Starbucks argued to the Fifth Circuit, saying the National Labor Relations Board lacked evidence of anti-union bias when concluding the coffee chain illegally fired a barista in California.

  • June 16, 2025

    Petroleum Co. Owes $21M In Withdrawal Liability, Fund Says

    Petroleum company Sieveking Inc. was hit Monday with a $21 million withdrawal liability suit in Illinois federal court by a pension fund that says the company should be paying off its balance while it asks an arbitrator to weigh in.

  • June 16, 2025

    WaPo Cleared Of Illegal Firing Claim Over Reporter's Tweets

    The Washington Post lawfully fired a reporter who spoke up about a co-worker's retweet that she found sexist, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Monday, finding the journalist's remarks on social media disparaged the newspaper and did not link to a labor dispute.

  • June 16, 2025

    Unions Can't Sue Over Canceled Columbia Funds, Judge Says

    A New York federal judge on Monday dismissed two unions' challenge to the Trump administration's decision ending $400 million in funding to Columbia University, saying the unions cannot sue over funding that was never theirs.

  • June 16, 2025

    NLRB Official Tosses Union Vote Petition At Tenn. Honky-Tonk

    A group of security guards can't unionize at a bar and live music venue in Nashville, Tennessee, a National Labor Relations Board regional director concluded, finding some workers in the proposed bargaining unit are statutory supervisors.

  • June 16, 2025

    AFL-CIO, Unions Seek Early Win To Block Slash Of FMCS

    A group of unions and the AFL-CIO urged a New York federal judge to find the Trump administration's staffing cuts and shuttering of field offices at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service are unlawful, arguing the government did not have an explanation for slashing the agency's services.

  • June 13, 2025

    State Dept. Layoffs Still Violate Injunction, Judge Says

    A California federal judge said Friday that planned staff reductions at the State Department would violate her injunction blocking President Donald Trump's executive order directing layoffs at federal agencies, saying she's not persuaded by the government's assertion that the department's reorganization was underway before the order.

  • June 13, 2025

    DC Circ. Knocks NLRB For 'Irrational' Impasse Analysis

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday rejected the National Labor Relations Board's conclusions that a quarry operator unlawfully threatened to stop contributions to a pension fund for unionized workers, finding the board's "legal analysis is irrational" about whether the parties were at an impasse.

  • June 13, 2025

    Trump Can't Pause Reinstating FLRA Chair Pending Appeal

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Friday rejected the Trump administration's request to pause an order requiring the Democratic chair of the Federal Labor Relations Authority's reinstatement, finding the government's request is belated and that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling doesn't necessarily support the stay.

  • June 13, 2025

    4th Circ. Affirms Toss Of Contractor's ULP Suit Against Union

    The Fourth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a Maryland mechanical contractor's lawsuit against a Sheet Metal Air Rail & Transportation Workers local on Friday, ruling that the union's alleged smear campaign against the company didn't rise to the level of an unfair labor practice under the National Labor Relations Act.

  • June 13, 2025

    NY Forecast: 2nd Circ. Weighs FedEx Driver's Bias Suit

    This week, the Second Circuit will consider a former FedEx employee's attempt to revive his lawsuit claiming he was fired in retaliation for complaining about rampant harassment that management at the company did nothing to address. Here, Law360 looks at this and other cases on the docket in New York.

  • June 13, 2025

    Vox Media Workers Secure Tentative Deal After Strike Vote

    Vox Media and the Writers Guild of America East notched a tentative three-year labor contract covering around 250 workers, the union announced Friday, coming to an agreement after a majority of the bargaining unit voted to authorize a strike.

  • June 13, 2025

    Groups Tell 8th Circ. Minn. Misclassification Law Harms Them

    Trade groups urged the Eighth Circuit to overturn an order declining to block a Minnesota law from taking effect that slaps steep fines on companies that misclassify construction workers as independent contractors, saying they have standing to sue because their members will be harmed by the statute.

  • June 13, 2025

    Workers At Immigration Agency Contractor OK For Union Vote

    The employees of a Lee's Summit, Missouri, office that helps U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services process benefit applications can vote on union representation, a National Labor Relations Board official said, rejecting the employer's argument that the union should also include employees of its Overland Park, Kansas, office.

  • June 13, 2025

    White House Stands By Biden-Era Construction Labor Rule

    The Trump administration clarified that federal agencies should still use project labor agreements on large federal construction projects, weeks after a court vacated two agencies' directives that purported to eliminate this requirement.

  • June 13, 2025

    Oregon Takes Cannabis Labor Peace Row To 9th Circ.

    Oregon officials will appeal a federal judge's order barring enforcement of a voter-approved law that required licensed cannabis businesses to enter into labor peace pacts with their workers.

  • June 13, 2025

    Colo. Appeals Upholds State Board Rules On Teacher Reviews

    A state appeals court sided with the Colorado State Board of Education in a challenge brought by an educators union against the board's new teacher performance evaluation system and the appeal process for those evaluations, precedentially ruling that the board acted within its delegated authority.

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 Krevolin Horst.

  • 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.

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