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What I’ve Been Reading This Week


What turned into a full week in the office this week will lead to almost another full week in the office next week as well.  While productive and a boon to the firm’s bottom line with the hours I have billed this week, I have had limited time to read articles.  Nevertheless, I did come across a few that I wanted to highlight for readers.  While California Senator Kamala Harris has recently declared her intentions to run for President, I will save an overview of her labor and employment law policies for another week.

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


Department of Labor Accuses Oracle of Engaging in Pay Discrimination for Women & Minorities

Ben Tobin at USA Today wrote an article earlier this week that made note of a Department of Labor lawsuit that alleges Oracle improperly engaged in a pattern of discrimination in regard to pay for women and minorities at the company.  According to the Department of Labor, Oracle’s alleged discriminatory wage practices have resulted in approximately $400 million in losses to these aggrieved employees.  What kind of discriminatory behavior did Oracle allegedly engage in you might ask?  According to the lawsuit, Oracle relied on salary history when deciding what to pay certain employees and ‘funneled’ these workers into lower paying positions.  Oracle’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Dorian Daley, has said the company is “in compliance with its regulatory obligations” and is committed to equality.  Stay tuned.


New Jersey’s Move to Hike Minimum Wage Rate to $15/Hour Picks Up Steam

As readers might have heard, Democrats in New Jersey have made raising the minimum wage rate in the state up to $15/hour a major priority.  It turns out, that goal might not be too far away from becoming a reality.  Yesterday, details of the proposed legislation became known as most workers in the state would see a wage hike up to $10/hour on July 1, up to $11/hour on January 1, 2020, up to $12/hour on January 1, 2021, $13/hour in 2022, $14/hour in 2023, and $15/hour in 2024.  Wage hikes would be slower for seasonal workers, farm workers, or employees that work for an employer with 5 or fewer employees.  While this tiered minimum wage hike has received some criticism from minimum wage advocates, the legislation as currently written in New Jersey appears to have enough votes to pass.  As of this writing, many expect this legislation to pass within the next month or so.

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