Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week


One of the bigger news items over the past week or so was the nomination of a new Member to the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”).  As outlined below, this nomination is likely the first of two this year.  Toward the end of summer, it will be interesting to see who is nominated for the second seat.

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


President Biden Announces Nomination For Vacant NLRB Position

Recently, President Joe Biden announced the nomination of Gwynn Wilcox (“Wilcox”) to fill a vacant seat at the NLRB.  Wilcox, a partner at a New York based union side law firm, also serves as associate general counsel to the largest local of the Service Employees International Union.  Should Wilcox be confirmed, she would become the second Democratic appointed Member of the NLRB.  Currently, the NLRB has three Republican appointed Members.  However, that is likely to soon change as one Member, Bill Emmanuel, will see his term end in August...which means President Biden will have another opportunity later this year to nominate an additional Member to the NLRB.  Once that happens, Democratic appointed Members would have a 3 - 2 majority over their Republican appointed counterparts.


Amazon Drops Marijuana Testing For (Some) Applicants

On Tuesday, Amazon announced that it would no longer require marijuana testing for applicants so long as the position was not regulated by the Department of Transportation.  Amazon also went one step further and voiced its support for legalization of marijuana at the federal level.   With such a large scale employer making these progressive moves, might others follow?


EEOC Updates Covid Guidance In Regard to Vaccinations

On May 28th, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released updated guidance on how equal employment opportunity laws (such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) apply to vaccination policies of employers, vaccination incentive programs, and confidential employee documentation relating to these policies.  I highly suggest employers and employees alike take a moment to review this updated guidance.

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