Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

 

A noteworthy, to say the least topic, comes out of England after Uber announced earlier this week that it would classify its driver in the country as employees rather than independent contractors.  As noted below, this is not the definitive decision that will impact all Uber drivers worldwide, but it is a development worth leading things off this week. 

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


Uber Announces Plan to Classify Its England Drivers As Employees

Adam Santariano at The New York Times wrote an article earlier this week in which he noted the somewhat surprising announcement from Uber that it had decided to classify its more than 70,000 drivers in England as employees, which will thus provide these drivers with a minimum wage, vacation, and a pension.  It has been no secret that Uber (and other gig companies) have long fought attempts to reclassify their workers as employees rather than independent contractors.  (In fact, that is still an ongoing fight stateside.)  While Uber’s announcement for its driver in England will not necessarily mean that all of its driver worldwide will be classified as employees, it certainly makes that a much more realistic option than it had been when Uber was contesting this reclassification fight tooth and nail.


Right to Work Legislation Falters in Montana Legislature

Recently, an attempt by Montana State Representative Caleb Hinkle to advance his legislation to make Montana a right to work state was summarily defeated by a 38 - 62 vote in opposition to the bill.  (It is worth recognizing that the Montana House is comprised of 67 Republicans and 33 Democrats, yet 29 Republicans voted to oppose the bill.)  Had the legislation advanced (and become law), Montana would have become a right to work state in which required payment of union dues (by non union members) would not be a permissible condition of employment.  Without a right to work law in effect, an employer can lawfully require a non union employee pay union dues as a condition of employment.  (Those union dues go toward the costs of collective bargaining by the union on behalf of all employees, regardless of whether or not they are union members.)

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