Labor

  • June 12, 2025

    Mich. Plant Ducks Bargain Order Despite Flouting Labor Law

    The Detroit-area outpost of a Chinese auto parts manufacturer violated federal labor law by telling workers they couldn't talk about unionizing on company time and attempting to influence workers by providing them with a Red Lobster lunch and a free afternoon of bowling, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled.

  • June 12, 2025

    Labor Group Backs Minn. Misclassification Law At 8th Circ.

    The Eighth Circuit should affirm an order declining to temporarily block a Minnesota law from taking effect that slaps steep fines on companies that misclassify employees as independent contractors, a labor organization said, because workers' wages will continue to be eroded without the statute.

  • June 12, 2025

    Ogletree Launches Workforce Analytics Group

    Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC has launched a new practice group that will focus on using data-driven tools to advise employers on various workforce compliance and risk assessment matters.

  • June 11, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Says VA Worker Must Submit To Random Drug Tests

    The Federal Circuit has upheld an arbitration decision requiring a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs employee, allegedly caught using marijuana on the job, to release her medical records and submit to random drug testing as part of a slate of conditions for her to return to work, finding the arbitrator's award acceptable.

  • June 11, 2025

    Think Tank Says Ill. 'Captive Audience' Fight Should Proceed

    A libertarian think tank and business group urged an Illinois federal judge Wednesday to let its legal challenge to a recent state law banning mandatory workplace meetings on politics and religion continue, arguing its already-chilled speech is enough to establish pre-enforcement standing.

  • June 11, 2025

    Calif. Judge Shuts Down Amazon's Bid To Block NLRB Case

    Amazon can't win another attempt to block a National Labor Relations Board proceeding about its alleged unfair labor practices involving delivery drivers in California, a federal judge ruled, saying the company hasn't shown it is experiencing irreparable harm.

  • June 11, 2025

    8th Circ. Probes NLRB's Process In Home Depot 'BLM' Ruling

    An Eighth Circuit panel questioned Wednesday the process behind the National Labor Relations Board's ruling that Home Depot illegally forced out a worker for displaying the letters "BLM" on their apron but didn't tip its hand on whether this move was within the company's rights.

  • June 11, 2025

    Ex-NLRB GC Warns Of More Strikes With Inactive NLRB

    Uncertainty about the long-term stability and independence of the National Labor Relations Board could increase labor unrest and spur workers and unions to take to the picket lines more often, former NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo told a House panel Wednesday, urging Congress to step in to strengthen the board.

  • June 11, 2025

    Worker Asks NLRB To Rethink Standard Barring Ouster Votes

    Unfair labor practice settlements without admissions clauses must only prevent decertification elections for no longer than six months, a worker represented by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation contended to the NLRB, seeking to overturn agency precedent on what is considered a reasonable time to negotiate a contract.

  • June 11, 2025

    Amazon Union Reps Defend Suit Challenging NYPD Arrests

    Amazon should face claims that it started illegally calling the police on labor demonstrations after its workers' union affiliated with the Teamsters, Amazon Labor Union officials argued, asking a New York federal judge to preserve a lawsuit that also names the New York Police Department as a defendant.

  • June 10, 2025

    Ill. Judge Questions Standing In Biogen Antitrust Suit

    An Illinois federal judge seemed skeptical Tuesday that health benefit plans accusing Biogen of impairing competition for its multiple sclerosis drug, Tecfidera, have standing to bring their lawsuit under decades-old precedent allowing only direct purchasers to recoup damages.

  • June 10, 2025

    Janitor's Wage Claims Must Head To Arbitration, Judge Says

    A janitor in California must arbitrate her claims that a cleaning services company owed minimum wages and didn't give rest breaks, a federal magistrate judge ruled Tuesday, finding a grievance process in an unsigned collective bargaining agreement still covers the worker's claims.

  • June 10, 2025

    Calif. Driverless Car Bill Shows Path For Unions' Anti-AI Fight

    The Teamsters are backing a California bill that would require self-driving delivery vehicles to run with a human operator, an effort that has drawn opposition from businesses but that the union sees as part of a fight to push back against job-threatening technology.

  • June 10, 2025

    4th Circ. Urged To Back NLRB's Order Against Trucking Co.

    A Virginia trucking company hasn't presented enough evidence to counter the National Labor Relations Board's conclusion that it unlawfully interfered with a union representation election, the board told the Fourth Circuit, asking the court to enforce the board's bargaining order.

  • June 10, 2025

    GM To Drop 'Cockamamie' Fiat Foreign Account Claims

    A Michigan judge indicated Tuesday that he would let General Motors withdraw allegations that Fiat Chrysler held foreign bank accounts in a union bribery scheme suit, and said he'd leave the determination of whether the automaker should be sanctioned for not sharing its evidence supporting those claims for another day. 

  • June 10, 2025

    Union Reaches Tentative Deal To End Video Game Strike

    The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has reached a tentative agreement for a union contract that would end a nearly yearlong strike by performers who provide voice-over and acting work for video games, the union announced.

  • June 10, 2025

    Union, Philharmonic Fight Suits From Suspended Musicians

    A musicians union has asked a New York federal judge to toss two suspended New York Philharmonic players' allegations that the union illegally dropped its fight for their reinstatement, saying it had good reason to abandon the mission after the full extent of their alleged sexual violence was revealed.

  • June 10, 2025

    Ex-Fidelity Associate GC Returns To Mayer Brown In Chicago

    Mayer Brown LLP has rehired the former co-chair of its practice focused on retirement benefit matters, who returns to the firm after helping to lead a team of attorneys at Fidelity Investments responsible for health and retirement plan litigation.

  • June 10, 2025

    Union Tells 5th Circ. To Keep Nexstar Denver Bargaining Order

    A Communications Workers of America affiliate pushed the Fifth Circuit to uphold the National Labor Relations Board's bargaining order against Nexstar at two television stations in Denver, challenging the company's claims that the union unfairly swayed a representation election.

  • June 10, 2025

    Kaplan Says NLRB Could Regain Quorum As Noms 'Imminent'

    The chairman of the National Labor Relations Board signaled Tuesday that the board may soon return to full function after months operating mostly without a quorum, saying "nominations are imminent" to fill at least some of the panel's vacancies.

  • June 09, 2025

    Unions Win Injunction In OPM, DOGE Privacy Suit

    A New York federal judge on Monday granted a preliminary injunction bid against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in a lawsuit accusing it of unlawfully disclosing employees' personal information to the Department of Government Efficiency, saying OPM granted broad access to the information despite there being no "credible need."

  • June 09, 2025

    Pilot Says American Airlines Skimped On Long-Term Disability

    A disabled pilot accused American Airlines and its third-party administrator of systematically miscalculating workers' long-term disability benefits by excluding certain forms of compensation from their monthly benefit calculations, according to a suit filed in Texas federal court.

  • June 09, 2025

    NLRB May Be Spared Trump Cuts, Acting Prosecutor Says

    The acting general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board signaled optimism Monday that the board will be spared the ax in President Donald Trump's culling of federal agencies, saying that the administration has "treated us well."

  • June 09, 2025

    Senators Seek Probe Into SEIU Leader's Arrest At ICE Raid

    Three Democratic senators called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Justice on Monday to provide legal justification for the arrest of the president of a Service Employees International Union affiliate in California during an immigration enforcement raid last week.

  • June 09, 2025

    Justices Urged To Keep Pause On 'Breakneck' Gov't Overhaul

    The U.S. Supreme Court should leave in place a California federal judge's order barring implementation of layoffs and reorganizations at various federal departments and agencies, several unions and nonprofits argued Monday, claiming a decision allowing the changes would irreversibly harm the federal government and render Congress and the judiciary powerless.

Expert Analysis

  • Tips For Defending Employee Plaintiff Depositions

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    A plaintiff cannot win their employment case through a good deposition, but they can certainly lose it with a bad one, so an attorney should take steps to make sure the plaintiff does as little damage as possible to their claim, says Preston Satchell at LexisNexis.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Whistleblowing Insights From 'Dahmer'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with DS Smith's Josh Burnette about how the show "Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" provides an extreme example of the perils of ignoring repeat complaints — a lesson employers could apply in the whistleblower context.

  • Labor Trends To Watch In Warehousing And Distribution

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    Employers in the warehousing and distribution sector should prepare for major National Labor Relations Board updates this year that will likely increase their exposure to unfair labor practice charges and make it easier for workers to unionize, say Laura Pierson-Scheinberg and Lorien Schoenstedt at Jackson Lewis.

  • Musk Ruling A Lesson On Employer Statements About Unions

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    A recent Fifth Circuit decision in Tesla v. National Labor Relations Board found that Elon Musk's 2018 tweets threatened employees at the company amid a unionizing campaign, reminding employers that communicating public statements about union organizing should be rooted in facts, says Daniel Handman at Hirschfeld Kraemer.

  • Cannabis Labor Peace Laws Lay Fertile Ground For Unions

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    State legislatures are increasingly passing cannabis laws that encourage or even mandate labor peace agreements as a condition for licensure, and though open questions remain about the constitutionality of such statutes, unionization efforts are unlikely to slow down, says Peter Murphy at Saul Ewing.

  • Handbook Hot Topics: Attendance Policies

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    Employee attendance problems are among the most common reasons for disciplinary action and discharge, which is why a clear policy neatly laid out in an employee handbook is necessary to articulate expectations for workers and support an employer's position should any attendance-related disputes arise, says Kara Shea at Butler Snow.

  • Religious Institution Unionization Risks Post-NLRB Decision

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    A recent National Labor Relations Board decision granted Saint Leo University religious exemption from the National Labor Relations Act, potentially setting a new standard for other religious educational institutions, which must identify unionization risks and create plans to address them, say Terry Potter and Quinn Stigers at Husch Blackwell.

  • Prepare Now To Comply With NJ Temp Worker Law

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    New Jersey temporary staffing firms and their clients must prepare now for the time-consuming compliance requirements created by the controversial new Temporary Laborers' Bill of Rights, or face steep penalties when the law's strict wage, benefit and record-keeping rules go live in May and August, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

  • Protecting Workplace Privacy In The New Age Of Social Media

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    The rise of platforms like TikTok and BeReal, that incentivize users to share workplace content, merits reminding employers that their social media policies should protect both company and employee private information, while accounting for enforceability issues, say Christina Wabiszewski and Kimberly Henrickson at Foley & Lardner.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Quiet Quitting Insights From 'Seinfeld'

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    Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with Paradies Lagardere's Rebecca Silk about George Costanza's "quiet quitting" tendencies in "Seinfeld" and how such employees raise thorny productivity-monitoring issues for employers.

  • Garmon Defense Finds New Relevance As NLRB Stays Active

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    With a more muscular National Labor Relations Board at work, employers should recall that they have access to a powerful yet underutilized defense to state law employment and tort claims established under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, say Alex Meier and Cary Reid Burke at Seyfarth.

  • Eye On Compliance: Cross-State Noncompete Agreements

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent proposal to limit the application of worker noncompete agreements is a timely reminder for prudent employers to reexamine their current policies and practices around such covenants — especially businesses with operational footprints spanning more than one state, says Jeremy Stephenson at Wilson Elser.

  • Conducting Employee Investigations That Hold Up In Court

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    A recent Maryland federal court decision, which held that Elite Protective Services failed to provide a worker under internal investigation with protections required by his collective bargaining agreement, highlights important steps employers should take to ensure the conclusions of internal reviews will withstand judicial scrutiny, say attorneys at Venable.

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