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What I’ve Been Reading This Week


As I wrap up things ahead of an expected very busy week upcoming week, there are a few articles worth highlighting for readers.  With November’s elections inching closer and closer, I think we are likely to see more developments emerge in regard to the positions, proposals, and policies of candidates across the country.  This week, in particular, I wanted to highlight an article that focuses on the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden and the steps he is taking in regard to rallying organized labor around his candidacy.

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



Bloomberg Law published an article recently in which it surmised that in cities or states that have adopted mandatory mask requirements (for shoppers), employers might not be at risk of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) violations.  (Generally speaking, OSHA is charged with enforcing laws that require employers to rid the workplace of “recognized hazards” that can “cause death or serious physical harm.”)  Let us say that a customer that refuses to wear a mask berates an employee.  This conduct likely would not qualify under the standard set out in OSHA’s general duty clause, therefore no OSHA violation would occur.  Granted, this is an evolving situation and OSHA may issue some guidance to change this analysis.  Stay tuned.



Effective August 2nd, Best Buy will raise its hourly pay rate to $15 for employees.  The company’s decision comes on the heels of other big box retailers, such as Target, having taken similar steps.  There had been some criticism of Best Buy after it furloughed nearly half of its workforce earlier this year, yet reported strong sales earlier this week.  Critics had started to call on the company to bring back its furloughed workers.  While Best Buy has started to bring back some, but not all furloughed workers, I suspect this hourly wage hike will be greeted with positive comments in the interim.



Stop me if you have heard this before:  a Democratic candidate needs the support of organized labor in order to shore up a key voting bloc in an election.  This election year, that standard is no different than normal.  With the Presidential election just a few short months away, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden is actively working to woo unions to his candidacy against President Donald Trump.  As Rick Newman writes, Biden has been becoming more vocal as of late in regard to announcing labor friendly policy proposals and pushing for a more labor friendly iteration of the National Labor Relations Board.  In order to win in November, Biden will need to make sure he has the support or organized labor (and motivates them to get to the polls.)

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