Skip to main content

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.

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

Breaking: Labor Secretary Rumored to Be Leaving Administration

A few hours ago, word leaked out that Labor Secretary Marty Walsh (“Walsh”) is in the midst of negotiations to head up the NHL Players Union and leave his position at the Labor Department. Walsh, who has served as the sole Labor Secretary under President Biden, has taken part in a labor renaissance of sorts as support for organized labor has increased during his term as Labor Secretary (although the number of workers that have joined a union over the past two years has not grown as mush as some expected.)  He has also overseen the ongoing negotiations with rail workers over a new contract, although that matter is still on shaky ground and playing out as we speak. As for who might step into the vacant Labor Secretary role, there are already rumblings that President Biden should nominate Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su (a strong labor advocate) or even a progressive like Senator Bernie Sanders.  Until Walsh officially gives his notice, however, I would expect some/many potential...
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