The Majority Opinion: Legal Blog

It has been a few months since I have seen a union election get a significant deal of attention.  However, with the recent graduate student voting having occurred this past Monday and Tuesday at Cornell and the subsequent "too close to call" announcement, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight this topic. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Before the Election Even Occurred, Grievances Were Filed Perhaps one of the least surprising developments occurred before the union election even occurred:  the Cornell Graduate Students United ("CGSU") and Cornell administration filed grievances in regard to disputed activities ahead of Monday's vote.  As Josh Girsky over at The Cornell Daily Sun writes, CGSU filed a grievance in regard to statements by Senior Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Barbara Knuth which suggested fewer graduate students would be hired if unionization were to occur.  The Cornell a

Last year, then President Obama signed an Executive Order which put into place the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule (aka the "Blacklisting Rule") which required contractors who sought federal work to disclose recent labor law violations.  The rationale in passing this new regulation was to withhold government contracts from employers that had a history of labor law violations.  Of course, there was much uproar in the business community with claims that the Blacklisting Rule violated contractors' First Amendment rights and restricted open competition for federal contracts by forcing employers to disclose allegations of unadjudicated labor and employment law violations. Although an injunction was issued late last year which prohibited the Blacklisting Rule from going into effect , there was no "finality" as to what would happen to the new regulation.  Well it did not take President Trump long to take steps to end the regulation as this past Monday, he repe

Fay v. Total Quality Logistics, LLC - South Carolina Court of Appeals Facts :  Joshua Fay ("Fay") worked as a sales account executive at Total Quality Logistics, LLC ("TQL").  On his first day of work, Fay signed a Non-Compete, Confidentiality, and Non-Solicitation Agreement (all to be enforced under the laws of Ohio).  The Non-Solicitation Agreement defined "Confidential Information" as, among other things, "all information disclosed to [Fay] or to which [Fay had] access during the period of his employment...if there is any reasonable basis to believe it to be Confidential Information or if TQL appears to treat it as confidential."  However, the non-disclosure portions did not include a time restriction or expiration date.  Instead, it purported to be binding "at all times" after Fay's employment period ended with TQL. In relevant part, the non-disclosure provisions provided its restrictions were "not intended and s

Last Friday, in a somewhat surprising move, the Mayor of Baltimore vetoed a bill which would have raised the minimum wage rate in the city to $15/hour.  Currently, the minimum wage in the state of Maryland is $8.75/hour with a mandated hike to $9.25/hour coming in July and another hike to $10.10/hour coming next year. Under this proposed measure, employers with 50 or more employees in Baltimore would have been required to raise wages to $15/hour by 2022; employers with fewer than 50 employees would have been required to meet that pay threshold by 2026. The Mayor, Catherine Pugh, noted that she vetoed the bill in part because of concern that a $15/hour wage rate in the city would disadvantage businesses and hourly workers.  Given that surrounding cities and states would have lower wage rates (in comparison to the proposed $15/hour wage rate), the Mayor expressed concern that employers in Baltimore would leave and take jobs elsewhere.  It is interesting to note, however, that May

Johnson v. Interstate Management Company, LLC d/b/a Hamilton Crowne Plaza Hotel - D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Facts :  Robert Johnson ("Johnson") worked as a cook at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza Hotel ("Hamilton") from 1996 until 2011.  The Hamilton was managed by Interstate Managing Company ("Interstate").  In 2007, Johnson began to receive a "steady stream" of warnings about his unsatisfactory job performance.  At different times, Johnson was cited for incorrectly filling out his time sheets, violating the company's anti-harassment policy, leaving water running in the kitchen, cleaning floor mats inside cooking pots, creating cross contamination hazards with meat, and following improper procedures for thawing fish, among other incidents.  In March 2010, Johnson was suspended for undercooking chicken at a banquet.  He was eventually reinstated with a "final warning":  "Any violation of any standard of conduct will result

As I finish up this note, I am at the beach.  Well, in full disclosure, I am looking out a window outside the courtroom at the beach...I suppose that is as close as I will get for the time being.  Before I head back inside the courtroom, I wanted to highlight a few articles for readers that jumped out at me.  Some readers might have heard that President Trump's nominee for Labor Secretary, Alexander Acosta, had his confirmation hearing this past Wednesday .  As a result, I wanted to lead things off with a nod to that confirmation hearing and what to expect going forward in regard to the nomination. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Alexander Acosta Gets His Day Before the Senate HELP Committee On Wednesday, Alexander Acosta went before the Senate HELP Committee for his confirmation hearing to become the next Labor Secretary.  As Jonnelle Marte at The Washington Post writes, Acosta received a relatively easy going hearing (at least

As with many employment and labor law related cases (and bills) being litigated around the country, there are always a few that stand out.   This is one to keep an eye on. Recently, Democratic lawmakers in Vermont introduced a bill in the State Legislature which would expand the family leave policy in the state and allow employees to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave per year for childbirth, serious illness, or to care for an aging parent.  (The current family leave plan in Vermont provides for about 4.6 weeks of leave.)  Of course the question that follows is always, 'ok, how are you going to pay for it?'  And that is perhaps where this proposal gets a bit contentious.  Under the current proposal, there would be a .93% mandatory payroll tax on employees in Vermont.  Note, the .93% could be adjusted each year but would be capped at 1%.  As well, employers could voluntarily cover some of that payroll tax if they chose to, but it would not be a requirement. Unde

Today is the day that President Donald Trump's nominee for Labor Secretary, Alexander Acosta, is set to have his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ("HELP").   With that being said, some readers might not know what to expect with today's confirmation hearing (and where things go from here after the confirmation hearing is over).  For the sake of brevity and without going too in depth into the "legalese" of the legislative process, here is what readers can expect to see play out. HELP Committee Hearing At the HELP Committee hearing, the twenty three members of the Committee will have the opportunity to individually question Acosta.  There is usually only one round of questioning and each member of the Committee is traditionally allowed about five minutes each to question the nominee.  The questions can range from asking a nominee about their stance on a particular issue that is relevant to

As with many employment and labor law related cases (and bills) being litigated around the country, there are always a few that stand out. This is one to keep an eye on. Current Status :  Earlier in February, Assembly Bill 149 was introduced in the Nevada State Legislature which seeks to restrict the use of non-compete agreements in the state.  Under the proposed bill, a clear cut line in regard to the duration of non-competes would be established.  In particular, this bill would make void any non-compete agreement if the agreement prohibited an employee "from pursuing a similar vocation in competition with or becoming employed by a competitor of his or her [present] employer for a period of more than three months after the termination of the employment of the employee."   Under current law, the restraint of trade duration must be "reasonable" to be enforceable.  Although this can be quite subjective, the Nevada Supreme Court has given some guidance o

Smith v. Concetra, Inc. - United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division Facts :  Timika Smith ("Smith") worked as a front office specialist for Concentra Health Services, Inc. ("Concentra") in Chicago.  In her position, Smith was responsible for greeting patients and visitors, admitting and checking on patients, obtaining authorizations to process patients for needed services, answering phones, and assisting in performing patient drug screenings.  Smith initially worked from 7 AM to 4 PM, which gave her time to pick up her daughter from school on occasion before going to her daily religious program meetings that began between 4 PM and 6 PM.  However, when a new director, Carla Lowe ("Lowe"), began work at Concentra, Smith's shift was changed from 9 AM to 6 PM on the grounds that a front office specialist was not needed before 9 AM because medical assistants could perform the front office specialist's fu

Earlier this week, I was gearing up for the March 16th confirmation hearing for Alexander Acosta, President Trump's nominee for Labor Secretary.  However, given the delay in that confirmation hearing, we will likely have to wait another week for any new developments on that front.  With that being said, I did want to start this post off with a reference to that confirmation hearing and the reason for the apparent week long delay. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Labor Secretary Nominee's Confirmation Hearing Postponed Since President Trump's new nominee for Labor Secretary, Alexander Acosta, was announced, it has been relatively smooth sailing (in comparison to the prior nominee, Andy Puzder).  Although Acosta's confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee ("HELP") had been set for yesterday, according to Jill Disis over at CNN , the hearing has been pushed back a week.  T

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

Headley, Jr. v. City of Miami, Florida - Supreme Court of Florida Facts :  On July 28, 2010, the City of Miami ("City") declared a "financial urgency" and notified Miami Lodge No. 20, Fraternal Order of Police ("Union") that the City intended to implement changes regarding wages, pension benefits, and other economic terms of employment.  After negotiations concerning the financial urgency, the City informed the Public Employee Relations Commission ("PERC") that a dispute remained between all parties.  On August 31, 2010, the City's legislative body voted to unilaterally alter the terms of the collective bargaining agreement ("CBA") in order to address the financial urgency and as a result impose a tiered wage reduction, eliminate education pay supplements, free other pay, and modify benefit calculations.   All parties went before the PERC and the City presented evidence that it faced a budget deficit of $140 million and i

As with many employment and labor law related cases (and bills) being litigated around the country, there are always a few that stand out. This is one to keep an eye on. Currently, there are two minimum wage bills working their way through the Nevada State Legislature.  At the present time, the hourly minimum wage rate in the state is set at $7.25/hour if an employer offers health insurance and $8.25/hour if no health insurance is offered.   Assembly Bill 175 Under Assembly Bill 175, the hourly minimum wage rate would increase up to $14/hour (for those employers who do offer health insurance) and to $15/hour (for those employers who do not offer health insurance).  Under the proposed bill, the hourly minimum wage rate would increase up to $14/hour or $15/hour over the next few years by raising the minimum wage rate by $1.25/year.   Senate Bill 106 As well, there is a proposed bill, Senate Bill 106, working its way through the Nevada Senate which wold rai

I read a few great articles this week in regard to equal pay that I wanted to highlight for readers.  Even after the election cycle wrapped up, equal pay continues to be a major topic of conversation not only in the U.S. but around the world, as evidenced by breaking news out of Iceland this week.  As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Intel Announces 100% Pay Equality for Women and Underrepresented Minorities Recently, Intel announced that it had achieved its goal of 100% pay equality for women and underrepresented minoritirs in its workforce.  As Aric Jenkins over at Fortune writes, this was apparently a year end goal for the company.  Readers might recall that equal pay has been an often talked about issue in recent months ( with Audi even running their much maligned equal pay ad during this year's Super Bowl ).  It will be interesting to see if any other major companies follow suit and announce either support for equal pay measures o

Holly v. UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Inc. - Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Facts :  Bruce Holly ("Holly") was hired by UPS to work at a facility in Kentucky.  One day in April of 2013, Holly had car trouble on the way into work.  Once he arrived, Holly asked his manager, Ron Nolan ("Nolan"), for permission to take his car to a repair shop.  Nolan agreed and sent a member of management with Holly to drive him back from the shop.  As Holly was leaving work, he remembered that he had a handgun stored in the center console of his car.  (Holly had a concealed carry license and always carried a handgun in his car).  Holly did not want to leave the handgun in his car while he was in the shop so he asked another employee, Kenneth Moore ("Moore"), if he could store the gun in Moore's car.  Moore agreed and in the UPS parking lot, Holly removed the gun from his car and placed it in Moore's.   However, when Holly was at the repair shop, Moore began

Ok, this one is a doozy.  Hang with me here while I break down a bill that North Carolina Democrats introduced in the State Legislature last week.  To say this bill, the Economic Security Act of 2017, covers a lot (if not most of the 'traditional' employment law topics) would be an understatement. Minimum Wage Currently, the hourly minimum wage rate in the state is set at $7.25/hour.  This bill would seek to scale in a wage hike to get the hourly minimum wage rate to $15/hour by 2021.  (And from $2.15/hour to $5/hour for hourly tipped workers). Equal Pay Employers in the state would be required to pay male and female workers equal wages 'for the same quantity and quality of the same classification of work' (with exceptions carved out for seniority or other factors that would result in different pay...although that last exception seems somewhat vague, doesn't it??).   Paid Sick Leave Employers would also be required to allow their employ

At the end of February, a bill that would have made New Mexico the next right to work state fell apart in its state legislature after a House panel, the House Labor and Economic Development Committee, voted upon party lines by a 6 - 5 vote to table House Bill 432 for this session.   The decision of the 6 Democrats who voted to table the matter should not come as all that much of a surprise.  These Democrats and labor groups had voiced their concern that a right to work bill becoming law in the state would chill employment and prohibit growth in the workforce (not to mention their claim that it would stifle union membership).   For the time being, Democrats in the state have again prevented right to work from becoming law (after they stalled a similar bill in 2015).  One of the Republican sponsors of House Bill 432, Representative James Townsend, indicated that for a right to work bill to pass, it would depend upon Republicans winning back control of the state legislature in

Excuse the brevity of this post, but I am in a coffee shop in Dallas before Court this morning and the wifi is a bit spotty.  With that being said, I read some great articles this week and had a tough time narrowing down which ones I wanted to highlight.  But as we await the confirmation hearings for President Trump's nominee for Labor Secretary, I want to highlight one of the better written articles on that topic that I came across this week. As always, below sea a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Acosta Continues to Gain Support From Labor Unions The New York Daily News recently published an update on Alexander Acosta, President Trump's nominee for Labor Secretary.  The article notes that Acosta has recently received the support of the International Association of Fire Fighters (which follows the recent support from the Laborers' International Union of North America), something that the prior Labor Secretary nominee, Andy Puzder, failed to gar

Last night, President Trump gave a speech before a joint session of Congress.  Among other things, he touched on his desire to have both parties work on a plan to provide paid family leave to new parents.  Readers might recall that during the Presidential election cycle, President Trump indicated his support for a paid maternal leave option for American workers .  At the time, it was thought that his daughter, Ivanka's, advocacy for paid leave was a driving force behind his support of the policy. With this speech last night, it appears that President Trump has shifted and now supports paid leave for both new mothers and fathers.  That alone should be applauded given that often times new fathers are not offered paid time off to care for a newborn (or newly adopted child).  Of course, just because the President announced his support for paid parental leave and wants both Republicans and Democrats to work together on the matter, that does not necessarily mean that this proposed