Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week


The end of the year normally means less time on the road and in court and more time to read through articles.  This year, unfortunately is much different with many, many courts holding hearings and trials to close out 2020.  Even with not having any travel, the amount of court appearances has left me with little time to read through articles.  With that being said, I did come across a couple articles worth mentioning.

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


New York Senate Republicans Push For Delay to Minimum Wage Hike

Earlier this week, Senate Republicans in New York began to voice their support for delaying a minimum wage hike in the state, set to take effect at the end of the year.  While it is not expected that Governor Andrew Cuomo would agree to any delay (nor Senate Democrats for that matter), might this effort to delay the minimum wage hike prove effective?


OSHA Under Fire For Limited Enforcement At Meat Packing Plants

In recent months, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has been heavily criticized for a perceived lack of enforcement of employer safety violations at meat packing plants.  One plant in South Dakota, for instance, has had over 1,000 employees contract the coronavirus with several passing away as a result.  The penalty imposed against the employer for the employees allegedly contracting the virus at work was a proposed penalty of $13,494.  A similar penalty was soon after proposed for another employer in Colorado.  This has led many former OSHA officials and a few Senators to publicly call out OSHA for what they consider to be extremely lenient penalties.  Whether this increased focus on OSHA and the proposed penalties results in a change is unclear at this time.

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