Labor

  • May 29, 2025

    OPM Memos Push Changes In Federal Hiring Based on 'Merit'

    The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday issued two memos outlining plans for hiring federal workers based on merit, following President Donald Trump's executive orders declaring that the federal hiring system focuses too much on anti-discrimination and not enough on employees willing to serve the executive branch.

  • May 29, 2025

    OPM Injunction Looms For DOGE Chaos, As Court Floats Deal

    A Manhattan federal judge hinted she may grant an injunction against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management related to what she called a "rushed, indeed chaotic, grant of access" to sensitive information for agents of the Department of Government Efficiency, before urging the government to hammer out a deal with the union plaintiffs.

  • May 29, 2025

    Union's AI Vader Charge Offers Reminder Of Looming Risks

    A recent National Labor Relations Board charge challenging a production company's use of artificial intelligence to voice Darth Vader in a video game underscores the many emerging risks for workers and employers lurking around the use of AI.

  • May 29, 2025

    Ore. Pot Regulator Will No Longer Require Labor Peace Pacts

    Oregon's cannabis regulator said Thursday that it would no longer enforce a voter-approved law requiring cannabis businesses to enter into labor peace agreements with their employees, following a federal judge's ruling that the law was preempted by federal policy.

  • May 29, 2025

    NYC Homeless Nonprofit Fights NLRB GC's Bargain Order Bid

    A nonprofit in New York City that operates youth homeless shelters told a federal judge to block National Labor Relations Board prosecutors' bid for an "intrusive" bargaining order, arguing the court should not consider the injunction petition based solely on evidence from the unfair labor practice proceeding.

  • May 29, 2025

    Mass. Justices Revive Atty's Suit Against 'Spiteful' Colleagues

    Massachusetts' highest court Thursday revived part of a lawsuit brought by a former appellate court staff attorney who said he was intentionally undermined by supervisors, finding that he had made a reasonable showing that two of the three original defendants had demonstrated actual malice toward him.

  • May 29, 2025

    Split 5th Circ. OKs Acting NLRB GC's Drop Of Teamsters Case

    A divided Fifth Circuit panel again blessed the National Labor Relations Board's order that supported a former acting general counsel's withdrawal of an unfair labor practice complaint against two Teamsters locals, analyzing the dispute on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • May 29, 2025

    Senate Committee Sets June Hearing For Trump's EBSA Pick

    The Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing in early June on President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration, according to a news release Thursday. 

  • May 28, 2025

    Kevin Costner Sued By Stuntwoman Over Ad Hoc Rape Scene

    Kevin Costner and the producers of the American West film series "Horizon" were sued in California state court by a stunt double who alleged she had to perform an impromptu, unscripted violent rape scene without an intimacy coordinator on set and other protocols under the actors' union contract.

  • May 28, 2025

    Ore. Labor Peace Decision Gives 'Road Map' For Challenges

    An Oregon federal judge's recent decision to block a state law requiring employers in the cannabis industry to reach labor peace agreements with unions could bolster challenges to similar laws in other states as the issue continues on a path experts expect to land at the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • May 28, 2025

    Leaders Of SEIU Local Challenge Suspension Amid Audit

    Two longtime members of a Service Employees International Union affiliate who served in leadership posts accused their union of unlawfully suspending them and imposing a gag order about their discipline, telling a Michigan federal judge that they weren't given a fair hearing.

  • May 28, 2025

    IUOE Ex-Leader Pardoned In DOL Disclosure Case, Attys Say

    President Donald Trump has pardoned a former International Union of Operating Engineers president who was facing the prospect of six months in prison for accepting free sports tickets without disclosing their value to the U.S. Department of Labor, his attorneys told a Washington, D.C., federal judge Wednesday.

  • May 28, 2025

    Starbucks Pans NLRB Threat Findings In 9th Circ. Challenge

    The National Labor Relations Board "thumb[ed] its nose" at employers' speech rights by ruling that Starbucks threatened workers and using the case to reverse precedent letting employers opine that a union would come between them and workers, the company told the Ninth Circuit.

  • May 28, 2025

    Calif. Nonprofit Lawfully Fired SEIU Backer, NLRB Judge Says

    A social services nonprofit in California was within its rights to fire an employee who supported organizing efforts with a Service Employees International Union local, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, but broke the law when it told the worker union discussions must not happen in the office.

  • May 27, 2025

    1st Circ. Axes NLRB's Northeastern Police Bargaining Order

    The First Circuit quashed a National Labor Relations Board decision ordering Northeastern University in Boston to negotiate with a union representing campus police department employees, determining the board strayed from precedent when finding sergeants are not supervisors under federal labor law.

  • May 27, 2025

    Judge Raises Eyebrow At DHS Move To Scrap TSA Union Deal

    A Washington federal judge seemed troubled by the government's February move to rip up a union deal covering Transportation Security Administration workers, but didn't tip her hand at a hearing Tuesday as to whether she thinks the American Federation of Government Employees deserves an injunction.

  • May 27, 2025

    Judge Says Kaiser, UFCW Staffing Fight Belongs In Arbitration

    A United Food and Commercial Workers local and a Colorado healthcare group affiliated with Kaiser Permanente must resolve their understaffing dispute in arbitration, a Colorado federal judge ruled Tuesday, saying the evidence presented at a six-day bench trial revealed that the fight is arbitrable.

  • May 27, 2025

    Stellantis, UAW Agree To Drop Dispute Over Colo. Strike Vote

    Stellantis and a United Auto Workers affiliate representing the company's Denver parts distribution center have agreed to drop their dispute over a December strike authorization vote, according to a joint stipulation for dismissal filed by the parties in Colorado federal court.

  • May 27, 2025

    Conn. Firefighters Say Age Bias Taints Retirement Program

    Connecticut's municipal employee pension system unlawfully barred a group of firefighters with over two decades of service from participating in a deferred retirement program because they're under 55 years old, the workers and their union claimed in a federal lawsuit.

  • May 27, 2025

    Split 5th Circ. Tosses NLRB's 12-Year-Old Back Pay Order

    A split Fifth Circuit panel has denied the National Labor Relations Board's request to enforce a 2013 back pay order against a Louisiana plumbing company, with the majority saying it's unfair to make a mom-and-pop shop that's recovering from two floods pay out roughly $100,000 over a decade-old matter.

  • May 27, 2025

    Judge Lets United, Teamsters Appeal Arb. Order At 9th Circ.

    United Airlines and the Teamsters can appeal a lower court order concluding that the Railway Labor Act gives individual airline employees the right to take their grievances to arbitration despite the union's objection, a California federal judge ruled, saying a Ninth Circuit ruling could end the case.

  • May 27, 2025

    Vice Media VP Rejoins Ogletree In NYC

    A seasoned BigLaw attorney who left Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC five years ago to move into an in-house legal position at Vice Media has rejoined the labor and employment law firm Tuesday as a shareholder.

  • May 27, 2025

    United Inks Tentative Contract With Flight Attendants Union

    A union representing 28,000 United Airlines flight attendants has struck a tentative deal with the airline on a five-year employment contract, hailing the agreement as a "historic" pact that comes with a pay bump and other benefits for its workers.

  • May 23, 2025

    Law360 Reveals Titans Of The Plaintiffs Bar

    This past year, a handful of attorneys secured billions of dollars in settlements and judgments for both classes and individual plaintiffs against massive companies and organizations like Facebook, Dell, the National Association of Realtors, Johnson & Johnson, UFC and Credit Suisse, earning them recognition as Law360's Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar for 2025.

  • May 23, 2025

    2 Takeaways As Justices Freeze Labor Officials' Returns

    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to endorse a freeze on the reinstatements of two fired labor officials bodes poorly for precedent permitting Congress to insulate certain agencies from presidential control, but the justices signaled that the Federal Reserve will remain above politics. Here, Law360 looks at takeaways from Thursday'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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