Skip to main content

What I've Been Reading This Week


Quite the week for several developments on the labor & employment law front.  With that being said, the seminal moment might have been the confirmation of Alexander Acosta as the next Labor Secretary.  For those readers who followed the struggle the original nominee for the position had, Acosta's relatively smooth confirmation process was likely a welcomed bit of good news by the Trump administration as the President approaches the end of his first hundred days in office. 

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


Senate Votes to Confirm Acosta as Next Labor Secretary

As I mentioned above, late yesterday afternoon, the Senate voted to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee for Labor Secretary.  As expected, the vote fell mainly along party lines.  However, with Republicans having the necessary votes (a majority) to confirm Acosta without needing any Democrats, this nomination and confirmation were never really in serious doubt.  Since the announcement of his nomination for Labor Secretary, Acosta had been widely praised and recognized as a relatively 'safe' choice for President Trump to have selected.  Now that he has been confirmed, it will be interesting to see how Acosta deals with minimum wage and overtime issues (and other Obama era regulations)...with those matters having become a focal point during his confirmation hearing after he declined to offer direct answers on several of these topics.


Minimum Wage Bills Moving Through Illinois Legislature

Currently, Illinois Democrats are pushing a few minimum wage bills through the State Legislature.  Notably, one of the bills seeks to raise the hourly minimum wage rate from its current rate of $8.25/hour all the way up to $15/hour over the next five years.  Although Republican Governor Bruce Rauner has indicated he would oppose the minimum wage bills currently in the Legislature, I think it is possible he would not veto a bill that had a modest minimum wage hike.  However, I think it is highly unlikely that a $15/hour minimum wage bill would become a reality in the state in the near future...but perhaps if a Democratic governor is elected next year, things could change.


Philip Miscimarra Named Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board

Late last week, President Donald Trump appointed Philip Miscimarra to chairman of the National Labor Relations Board.  This comes on the heels of President Trump having named Miscimarra as Acting Chairman back in January.  Miscimarra, nominated by President Barack Obama, was confirmed as a Board Member in July 2013.  With that being said, until President Trump nominates more Board Members (that can be confirmed by the Senate), I would not expect a substantial shift in Board rulings.  Keep an eye on this one though; it is quite likely that more employer friendly rulings will be issued by the NLRB once more Republicans are appointed to the Board.

Comments

Post a Comment

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,...
Post a Comment
Read more

What I've Been Reading This Week

Recently, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Commissioner, Chai Feldblum, had her re-nomination on the brink, after Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee took steps to block it .  Readers might have heard that late last week, Commissioner Feldblum's re-nomination quietly slipped away and she tweeted out a thank you to supporters and friends, acknowledging that her time at the EEOC was over.  While there has not been much in the way of a further update in regard to that ongoing saga, we wait to see how things will play out at the EEOC, now that it has lost a quorum until additional Commissioners are confirmed by the Senate. For the time being, there are other developments for readers to review this week.  In particular, I call attention to the article on managing a wage & hour audit by the Department of Labor as well as steps an employer can take to better ensure compliance with the ADA. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Senator Bernie Sanders To Introduce Bill Requiring Large Corporations To Pay For Federal Assistance Programs

Next week, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is set to introduce legislation which would require large employers such as Walmart, Amazon, and McDonald's to fully cover the cost of food stamps, public housing, Medicaid, and other federal assistance programs that their employees receive.  Senator Sanders has stated that the goal is to force these large employers to pay their employees a living wage and cut back on the nearly $150 billion in taxpayer dollars that go toward funding these federal programs every year. As for the specifics, a 100% tax on government benefits received would be imposed on government benefits received by workers at companies with 500 or more employees.  For instance, if a Walmart employee received $500 in food stamps, Walmart would be taxed $500. To call this proposed legislation groundbreaking would be an understatement.  I would expect that Senator Sanders, an Independent that caucuses with Democrats, is going to face an uphill battle gett...
Post a Comment
Read more