Skip to main content

What I've Been Reading This Week


I unfortunately had a rather busy week in the office and little spare time to read through articles.  Although the article on the NLRB Chairman was well worth a read (and a good follow up on my recent post about the topic) & one that I think readers would find to be quite insightful.

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


EEOC Brings Suit After Alleged Unlawful Ebola Virus Termination

Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ('EEOC') brought suit against the owner of a Massage Envy franchise location after he terminated an employee out of fear that she would bring back the Ebola virus after she went to Ghana to visit her sister.  Apparently, the employee was given the choice to either cancel her trip or face termination.  When the employee refused to cancel her trip, she was apparently subsequently terminated, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  I have to say, this is quite an interesting case and one that I would be curious to see play out.


NLRB Chair Miscimarra Not Expected to Be a Friend of Unions

A few weeks ago, President Donald Trump appointed Philip Miscimarra Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board ('NLRB').  Although Miscimarra had been Acting Chair previously, this move was seen as a sign that the Trump Administration was beginning to implement its expected pro-employer stance on labor issues.  Valerie Bolden-Barrett at HRDive.com wrote an article recently in which she suggested that NLRB Chair Miscimarra is likely to now start taking steps to roll back pro-union measures and decisions that came from the NLRB during President Obama's tenure.  How successful that plan will be (and how long it takes to accomplish) remains to be seen...especially considering President Trump has not had a chance to appoint pro-employer Board Members yet. 

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

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

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
Post a Comment
Read more