Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week


Having finished up in court in Dallas for the morning, I find myself at Whole Foods for a late breakfast, watching the Uruguay v. France World Cup quarterfinal, and finishing up this post.  Given that July 1st was only a few days ago, I thought it appropriate to lead off this post with a reminder of several recent minimum wage increases that went into effect earlier this week.

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


Reminder! July 1st Marked the Start of Minimum Wage Increases For Many Employees

For those not aware, Sunday was the day that minimum wage increases went into effect for many workers across the country.  For those unfamiliar with where hourly minimum wage rates went up earlier this week, I refer you to the attached chart for reference.


Most Age Discrimination Goes Unreported

MarketWatch published an article recently that reported that approximately only 3% of age discrimination claims are actually reported.  That number is somewhat surprising as the report indicates that 60% of workers age 45 or older have seen or experienced age discrimination themselves.  This low percentage of actual reporting of age discrimination should be cause for concern, given the rampant number of employers that are apparently getting away with this practice.  While the MarketWatch report does not give a ‘fix’ for the low reporting numbers, it is worth a read for additional background on the matter.


A Critical Look At the Proposed Department of Education & Department of Labor Merger

Richard Reddick, an Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, recently wrote an article that offered some pointed criticism of President Donald Trump’s recent suggestion that the Department of Education and the Department of Labor should merge.  This proposal is intended, among other things, to streamline government and eliminate some of the bureaucracy among agencies.  However, as Reddick notes, there is little historical association between the two Departments and Reddick characterizes this proposal as an attempt to actually diminish federal oversight in education.  Regardless of your position on President Trump’s proposal, Reddick offers some intriguing arguments in opposition.

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