Skip to main content

What I've Been Reading This Week


A few months ago, I watched a documentary on Netflix of French President Emmanuel Macron in his campaign to become president of France.  While the documentary, Emmanuel Macron: Behind the Rise, was compelling, given the fact that Macron came from 'relative' obscurity to eventually winning the run-off election, it left me wondering how his presidency would play out.  Well it did not take long for him to announce an ambitious agenda, including a proposed reform of the country's Labor Code.  While I will not attempt to act like I know the inner workings of that Labor Code (in fact, it appears many legal scholars in France grapple with a thorough comprehension themselves), I did not want to highlight an article from Bloomberg which gives readers an idea of what kind of fight President Macron might be in for as he attempts to reform the country's Labor Code.

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


French President Seeks to Reform Labor Code

Angeline Benoit at Bloomberg wrote a great article a few days ago that touched on newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron as he inches ever so closer to reforming France's Labor Code.  While others have tried (and failed), Macron has made this one of the potentialally defining moments of his young presidency.  As Benoit notes, Macron is seeking to make it easier for employers in the country to terminate employees and limit the amount of compensation they could recover in court, among other related labor reforms.  Unsurprisingly, unions in France have fought these types of reforms in the past and are drawing a line in the sand with Macron now.  Whether or not he has enough capital to make this reform a reality is difficult to say.  With that being said, with labor reform having been one of his primary talking points during his campaign, there are plenty of supports (and detractors) closely watching how this plays out.



In late March, a Miami-Dade circuit judge struck down a law that would have raised minimum wage rates in Miami Beach from its current rate of $8.10/hour, to $10.31/hour by January 1, 2018, and then increase by $1/hour every year thereafter until 2021.  Kate Rogers at CNBC looks at how a few local businesses in Miami Beach are dealing with the minimum wage struggle (as there is speculation that the matter could eventually reach the Florida Supreme Court) and how some businesses are facing the dilemma of having to increase wages to attract quality employees while juggling how to manage the steadily rising labor costs without having to go out of business.  While I do not think there is an 'answer' either way on how Miami Beach businesses can handle the minimum wage fight, this article gives some good insight into how things are currently playing out while the disputep makes its way through the legal system.

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

San Diego Rolls Back Vaccine Mandate For City Workers

Last Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted to do away with the vaccine mandate for city employees. The city’s vaccine mandate that was in place required city workers to get the coronavirus vaccine or risk termination.  Perhaps to this surprise of no one, the city’s policy came under fire with 14 employees being terminated and over 100 other employees resigning.  With the coronavirus subsiding, including in Southern California, the San Diego City Council took action. Now, bear in mind, the repeal of the vaccine mandate does not take place immediately. With that being said, the mandate will be repealed March 8th.  I suppose the question now is, what other cities or regions follow San Diego’s lead? For additional information:   https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-01-24/san-diego-repeals-controversial-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-citing-drop-in-cases-hospitalizations
Post a Comment
Read more

NLRB: Former Employee Cannot Be Barred From Work Premises After Filing Wage Suit

MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC - NLRB Facts :  MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC d/b/a Grand Sierra Resort & Casino ("GSR") operated a facility that included a hotel, casino, restaurant, clubs, bars, and a pool which were all open to the general public.  Tiffany Sargent ("Sargent") was briefly employed by GSR as a "beverage supervisor" in December of 2012.  After her employment ended, Sargent continued to socialize at one of the clubs.  GSR had a long standing practice of allowing former employees to patronize its facility and did not prohibit Sargent from doing so.  In June of 2013, Sargent and another employee filed a class and collective action against GSR for alleged unpaid wages, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Nevada law.  In July of 2014, GSR denied Sargent access to an event at one of the clubs.  GSR followed up with a letter and stated that with the on-going litigation (from the wage suit), it decided to bar Sargent from the premises. ...
1 comment
Read more