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What I've Been Reading This Week


Even though I spent most of the week in the office, for seemingly several weeks in a row now, and had plenty of time to read through several articles, I wanted to keep this post concise & to the point.  With that being said, with references below in regard to the government shutdown and a new Representative from New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, perhaps this should have been titled ‘What I’ve Been Reading This Week:  Government Edition’.  In all seriousness, the three articles I highlighted this week are all worth reading, politics aside.

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


Government Shutdowns & Employee Furloughs

A few weeks ago, the shutdown of the federal government dominated news coverage.  With that prolonged shutdown, many government contractors were put in a tough spot:  they had contracts with the federal government but with the shutdown in place, there was no work do be done...which meant that these contractors had an abundance of employees with no work to do.  As Eric Suits writes, one option that many of these contractors took was to furlough some of their employees until the shutdown ended.  While Eric's article is tailored to employers and employees in California, it is worth a review for anyone interested in the topic.  As always though, consult with the laws in your state/jurisdiction to determine what risks could arise when an employee is furloughed.


New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez To Pay Staffers $52k/Year

For those that have been living under a rock the past few months, New York's 14th Congressional District has a new Congresswoman that was sworn in this past January.  Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (or "AOC" as she is often referred to) has hit the ground running since she was sworn into Congress.  Depending on what side of the aisle you fall on, you either think she is a lightning rod for unwarranted criticism or think she is too far out in front of her skis for such a new member of Congress.  With that being said, while not talking about the Green New Deal or a proposed 70% marginal tax rate on the top earners in the country, AOC made waves recently when she confirmed she would pay her staffers $52,000.00 per year.  Brad Tuttle over at Money notes that this pay would be significantly higher (and I do emphasize significantly) than what other Congressional staffers earn on average, about $31,500.00 per year.  As for her interns, AOC has pledged to pay them at least $15 per hour (while many other members of Congress expect interns to work for free).  As many readers are likely wondering, "Ok, how are you going to pay for it?"  It turns out members of Congress receive about $1 million per year to pay their staff salaries.  While $1 million is plenty of money to pay salaries, if AOC starts taking money that traditionally went to higher ranking staff members, that will raise staff salaries for lower ranking members of her team (at the cost of others).


Documentary Chronicles Minimum Wage Fight By NFL Cheerleaders

Over the past few years, minimum wage lawsuits filed by NFL cheerleaders against teams and the league were a big talking point in employment law circles.   Things have cooled on that front lately, although there have been a few lawsuits filed within the last year.  Pamela Avila at Los Angeles Magazine sat down a few weeks ago with documentarian Yu Gu, and producer Jin Yoo-Kim to talk about their documentary on the topic, A Woman’s Work:  The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem.  Included in Pamela’s article is a brief Q&A with Gu and Yoo-Kim that is worth a read.  While this documentary might not be the definitive source on the cheerleader lawsuits, it seems to provide a good overview of their prior (and ongoing) minimum wage fight.

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