Skip to main content

What I’ve Been Reading This Week


While I do want to lead things off with an update about unionization efforts at Starbucks (or more so the ramifications of those efforts), I do want to point readers to a development in Hawaii in regard to a possible mini wage hike currently working its way through the Legislature.  Without giving things away, today marks a seminal moment in the viability of that minimum wage legislation.

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



Last Friday, the Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) in Phoenix filed a lawsuit against Starbucks and moved to have three Starbucks employees reinstated.  The lawsuit alleged that these three employees these employees were unlawfully terminated (or forced to leave their positions) as a direct result of their organization efforts.  The lawsuit seeks to have an injunction issued to have these employees reinstated.  While Starbucks has denied any unlawful actions in regard to these three employees, no formal answer has yet been filed with the court.



Earlier today, it was announced that an East Village Starbucks in New York City had unionized with an 11 - 2 vote in favor of unionization.  While five additional ballots have been contested, the outcome of those ballots will not impact the result here.  As with any successful unionization, Starbucks Workers United will now negotiate a contract with Starbucks on behalf of this store’s employees.



As reported by Annalisa Burgos, today marks the day in which the Hawaii Legislature must agree upon the wording of minimum wage legislation or the bill will fall apart.  While there has been relatively widespread support for hiking the current statewide minimum wage rate of $10.10/hour, there has been some disagreement about the timeframe in which wages would raise.  Will a deal be reached and the legislation salvaged?  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

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