Skip to main content

What I've Been Reading This Week


It has been an extremely busy couple of weeks in and out of the office.  As a result, this is a shorter post than I would have preferred...but I have had less time than normal to read through articles as I would have liked.

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


NLRB Criticized For Enabling Racially and Sexually Demeaning Misconduct By Striking Workers

Recently, D.C. Circuit Judge Patricia Millett authored an opinion (and wrote a concurring opinion) in which he criticized the NLRB for its "too-often cavalier and enabling approach" to racially and sexually demeaning misconduct by employees on strike.  Readers might remember a law passed in Pennsylvania last year which removed the "labor dispute" exemption for unions...which addressed similar bad behavior as this case.  Interesting to note a high ranking judge take aim at the NLRB for giving "refuge" to conduct that she labeled as being "not only intolerable by any standard of decency, but also illegal in every corner of the workplace."  Marcia Coyle has a great analysis of Judge Millett's criticism of the NLRB that I think readers would enjoy reading.



Dcist.com has an in depth look at the impact that paid sick leave has had:   In cities that guarantee paid sick leave, there has been a 5% drop in the rates of the flu and other contagious illnesses.  This article is well worth a read for those interested to see the positive impact that paid sick leave has been shown to have.



For those interested in equal pay matters, look no further.  Rebecca Shabad over at CBS News has one of the best researched articles on the topic that I can recall.  In the article, Shabad tracks equal pay developments from around the country (including measures that have become law in Maryland in Massachusetts recently) while also recognizing the continued struggle to finally achieve equal pay in the workplace across the entire country.  It goes without saying that while a lot of progress has been made, there is quite a bit left to accomplish.


Ohio Supreme Court Dismisses Minimum Wage Complaint

Leila Atassi over at Cleveland.com has an update on the Ohio Supreme Court's recent ruling on September 14th that dismissed a complaint filed by backers of a $15/hour minimum wage rate in Cleveland.  According to the Court, the case was dismissed as the issue is not yet ripe for review.  For those looking for a less "legalese" explanation:  The complaint asked the Court to require the Cleveland City Council to accept 18,0000 signatures that had not been considered (the signatures were gather to try and get the $15/hour minimum wage matter on the ballot this November).  However, that did not happen so a special election is currently set for May 2, 2017 in which voters will have the opportunity to vote on whether to raise minimum wage rates in the city.

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, it was noted that emplo
Post a Comment
Read more

Happening Tomorrow: Connecticut’s Minimum Wage Increases

For those employers and employees alike in Connecticut, mark your calendars as tomorrow, the minimum wage rate increases in the state from $13/hour to $14/hour. This wage hike comes after Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont had signed Public Act 19-4 into law in 2019 which progressively raised the state’s hourly minimum wage rate every year for five years.  In fact, next year, the hourly wage rate will top out at $15/hour.  Beginning in January of 2024, the hourly wage rate will be indexed to the employment cost index. For additional information:   https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2022/06-2022/Governor-Lamont-Reminds-Residents-That-Minimum-Wage-Is-Scheduled-To-Increase-on-Friday
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more