Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

 

Apologies for those wanting to talk about GameStop or AMC stocks this week.  Having a discussion on shorting stocks, floats, and squeeze plays is better served for Reddit, Discord, or whatever other form of stock discussion your prefer.  This week I read through some thought provoking articles.  One in particular that caught my eye dealt with employers giving their employees a set amount of “free time” (or autonomy time”) each week to work on projects of their own choosing.  As the below article points out, this might have a lasting positive impact for both employers and employees alike.

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


Autonomy Programs Have Worked At Big Tech...Why Not Try Elsewhere?

Autonomy programs have been in place at several big tech companies for years, including 3M, Google, FaceBook, LinkedIn, and Apple, among others.  While these autonomy programs differ a bit from each employer, they generally allow employees a set amount of time each week to work on projects of their own.  As the article from Fast Company notes, this has produced a host of several developments, including Google Maps and Gmail.  Studies have found that allowing workers the freedom to work on projects of their own choosing has led them to be more productive and motivated.  While I am not suggesting that all employers give their employees a set amount of time each week to go off and do what they want, carving out some time for employees to tinker with their projects might end up paying dividends in the log run.


Walmart CEO Suggests Higher (Regional) Wage Hikes Might Be Appropriate

Bloomberg published an article last week in which it noted that Walmart CEO, Doug McMillon, recently suggested that while the federal minimum wage rate of $7.25/hour is too low, regional economics should be taken into account when considering a federal minimum wage hike.  McMillon pointed out that a wage hike that took into account “geographic differences” and “small business” would be vital to ensure the viability of many businesses around the country.  If the federal minimum wage rate was increased to $15/hour, as a growing number of members in Congress have started to call for, it would likely have a detrimental impact on some areas of the country in which employers could not manage the surge in labor costs.  McMillon’s comments are noteworthy, in part as it is coming from the head of a nationwide employer that has over 1.5 million employees.


Amazon Pushes For In Person Union Election

Readers may have heard some of the hoopla recently over Amazon arguing to the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) that an upcoming election at one of the company’s facilities in Alabama should be conducted in person, rather than by mail.   The union election, set to start February 8th and run for seven weeks, would allow approximately 6,000 workers at the Bessemer, Alabama Amazon location to vote by mail on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.  Amazon has appealed a prior ruling on the matter to the NLRB arguing that NLRB’s pandemic voting policy is flawed therefore making mail in voting an unrealistic option.  Will Amazon succeed in its attempt to have an in person election?  While the NLRB might move back the planned start to the election by a few weeks, I would be surprised if the election was ultimately switched to in person voting.

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

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

NLRB: Former Employee Cannot Be Barred From Work Premises After Filing Wage Suit

MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC - NLRB Facts :  MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC d/b/a Grand Sierra Resort & Casino ("GSR") operated a facility that included a hotel, casino, restaurant, clubs, bars, and a pool which were all open to the general public.  Tiffany Sargent ("Sargent") was briefly employed by GSR as a "beverage supervisor" in December of 2012.  After her employment ended, Sargent continued to socialize at one of the clubs.  GSR had a long standing practice of allowing former employees to patronize its facility and did not prohibit Sargent from doing so.  In June of 2013, Sargent and another employee filed a class and collective action against GSR for alleged unpaid wages, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Nevada law.  In July of 2014, GSR denied Sargent access to an event at one of the clubs.  GSR followed up with a letter and stated that with the on-going litigation (from the wage suit), it decided to bar Sargent from the premises. ...
1 comment
Read more