Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

 

With vaccine mandates becoming a somewhat hot button issue lately, I think it is appropriate to look at the topic under the lens of employment law.  While the situation is rapidly changing (almost daily), this is a good article to lead things off today.

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


Biden Administration Reportedly Examining Whether Employers Can Mandate Vaccines

I think the headline article here says it all:  The President Joe Biden administration is reportedly looking at whether employers (and businesses) can mandate the coronavirus vaccine.  As this article from Reuters notes, several employers, such as United Airlines, Microsoft, and Tyson Foods, have recently announced that they are requiring vaccines for their employees.  In fact, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh commented that mandatory vaccines are something that is being examined, although there does not appear to be a clear cut answer on the legality/effectiveness of requiring vaccinations.  (Although a word to the wise for readers, the EEOC had previously stated that mandatory vaccines can be a lawful condition of employment.  In fact, one court in Texas has already thrown out a case by former employees that challenged such a policy.)


Wages Rise In Second Quarter for Public and Private Employees

A recent report notes that wages rose again in the second quarter including 3.5% for private sector workers.  However, while this is good news, public sector workers saw only a .7% increase in comparison.  With that being said, these are still relatively strong increases across the board notwithstanding a somewhat turbulent market (stock and labor markets, that is).


Jersey City Mayor Raising Hourly Wage Rate to $17 For Municipal Employees

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop announced last week that municipal employees in the city would see their wage rates rise from $15/hour to $17/hour.  The $2/hour pay raise, set to take effect on August 23rd, will impact nearly 400 workers.  Curiously, while the increased labor costs will result in an additional $800k to Jersey City, there has been no announcement on how it will be funded.  If I were a betting man, I would expect some sort of tax increase (either on employers, property, sales, or some other measure) to help fund things.  However with an August 23rd date for when this takes effect...the clock is ticking.

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

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie Vetoes Minimum Wage Hike

A few months ago, readers might remember that I pointed out that the New Jersey Legislature had voted to approve a minimum wage hike in the state .  Under the approved legislation, the minimum wage rate would rise to $10.10/hour in the next year and at least $15/hour over the next five.  (The current minimum wage rate in the state is $8.38/hour).  In that article, I had noted that the bill was then going to go before Governor Chris Christie for his approval or veto. As I had suggested previously, I thought that the Governor would likely veto the bill based upon his prior actions and comments on similar legislation.  Well, a few days ago, Governor Christie did just that and vetoed the bill on the grounds that it "would trigger an escalation of wages that will make doing business in New Jersey unfathomable."  Pointing to the increase in hourly minimum wage rates, the Governor referred to the bill as a "really radical increase."  (It is interesting to c...
Post a Comment
Read more