Skip to main content

What I've Been Reading This Week


Hardly a week (or day) goes by that I do not come across articles on minimum wage issues in cities, towns, and states across the country.  This week was no exception as developments emerged on the minimum wage fight in Alabama and the University of Wisconsin, among others.

As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week.


A Look at the Employment Law Legacy of Justice Scalia

Readers have likely heard about the recent death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in February.  Over at the Orrick Employment Law and Litigation Blog, they have a good round up of the employment law legacy of Justice Scalia over the years.  Everything from his opinion in Wal-Mart v. Dukes to AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion is covered with an additional emphasis on what might happen to the current employment law cases pending before the Court.  Well worth a review!


Unease Continues Over NLRB's Franchisors & Joint-Employer Issue

Ron Ruggless has an interesting note about comments made at an International Franchise Association convention panel down in San Antonio late last month.  At the convention, it was suggested that franchisors should not panic over a December 2014 NLRB ruling which shifted the joint-employer status so franchisors could be held liable for employment actions taken by their franchisees.  At the convention, the panel pointed out that franchisors should do what is necessary to protect their brand image and not give up maintaining their brand standards.  Good advice, but little solace to some franchisors who are walking on egg shells now, fearful of this new joint-employer status.


The University of Wisconsin - Madison Raises Minimum Wage

Late last month, it was announced that the University of Wisconsin - Madison would raise its minimum wage rate for student employees from $7.25 to $9/hour starting next fall.  In addition, The Wisconsin State Journal noted that graduate assistants will see a 2% pay raise starting in July.  (Readers might remember New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's recent announcement of a $15/hour minimum wage rate for SUNY employees).  While $9/hour is still a far cry from $15/hour...this is a start.  It will be interesting to see if/when the minimum wage rate for these student employees increases...and how long it takes for another wage increase to take effect.


Pittsburgh Glass Works Loses Age Discrimination Case

In January, a jury found that Pittsburgh Glass Works ("PGW") unlawfully retaliated against a former employee who was going to file an age discrimination suit against the company.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette detailed that PGW was found to have violated age discrimination laws in 2010 when it fired an employee, who was 58 years old, that had worked at PGW (and its predecessor company) for over three decades.  After the worker (and several others in their 50's) filed a complaint with the EEOC, he was told that he could move up in the company if he "made the whole thing go away"...unfortunately, he was fired several weeks later.  

Employers, take note:  as the facts of the case laid out, PGW appeared to have violated the law by retaliating against the employee for his EEOC claim.  The penalty?  Over $900,000, plus attorney's fees.  Tread carefully!


Pro Hillary Clinton PACs Launch Equal Pay Ads

Interesting note from The New York Times in regard to recent ad buys by two PACs (political action committees) that support Hillary Clinton.  These two PACs have started to run ads that advocate for equal pay for women.  Readers might remember that I have highlighted several times that Hillary Clinton (and Bernie Sanders) has made equal pay a talking point on the campaign trail.  Granted, a few ad buys by these PACs likely will not tip the scales in either direction...but it does keep the equal pay issue at the forefront of the campaign and ensures it remains a talking point going forward.
 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum, it was noted that emplo

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa

Utah Non-Compete Bill Falters in House

Last month, a non-compete bill sponsored by Representative Brian Greene (Republican from Pleasant Grove) & up for vote in the Utah House failed to make it through the Legislature.  The bill sought to ban enforcement of non-competes if they came after a worker was already employed, given no compensation (such as a bonus or promotion) for signing the non-compete, and laid off within six months.  However, by a 22 - 49 vote, the bill was resoundingly defeated after some business groups lobbied to kill the non-compete bill.  One group in particular, The Free Enterprise Utah coalition, argued that the Utah State Legislature should hold off on any changes to non compete laws in the state until a survey about non competes was done among Utah businesses.  Representative Greene had countered this claim and argued that a survey was not needed to show that the current non compete laws in the states allowed many businesses, including some small high tech companies in the state, to per