The Majority Opinion: Legal Blog

For those employers and employees alike in Connecticut, mark your calendars as tomorrow, the minimum wage rate increases in the state from $13/hour to $14/hour. This wage hike comes after Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont had signed Public Act 19-4 into law in 2019 which progressively raised the state’s hourly minimum wage rate every year for five years.  In fact, next year, the hourly wage rate will top out at $15/hour.  Beginning in January of 2024, the hourly wage rate will be indexed to the employment cost index. For additional information:   https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2022/06-2022/Governor-Lamont-Reminds-Residents-That-Minimum-Wage-Is-Scheduled-To-Increase-on-Friday

Back in 2020 when the coronavirus was just starting to become a household term, there were rumors that workers at Trader Joe’s were looking to form a union due in part to long hours, low pay, and less than desirable working conditions. While things seemed to simmer on the back burner for a while, the possibility of a union at Trader Joe’s has recently taken off again as workers at a Trader Joe’s in Hadley, Massachusetts have recently filed for an election.  These workers have pointed to lower pay and benefits as a reason for their desire to unionize. This has seemed to be a refrain we have heard from other workers at places such as Starbucks and Amazon as well.  With many industries seeing a surge in work over the past few years, including grocery stores which have dealt with an onslaught of supply chain issues and a growing…appetite…among consumers for delivery/pick up options, workers in some industries have argued they are required to do more work for the same (or even less) pay. I

Last week, the Austin City Council voted to approve a $22/hour wage rate for city employees, up from its current rate of $15/hour. At holding public hearings on the matter, the City Council heard from workers that argued with the increase in the cost of living and a rise in inflation across the board, $15/hour was no longer a livable wage for workers in the city.  Although the City Council had last raised hourly pay rates for workers in 2018, it i not necessarily a surprise that the City Council was confronted with a request for another pay raise. I do want to remind workers that just because the City Council approved a wage hike does not necessarily mean the $22/hour pay rate will go into place.  Austin’s City Manager now has the $22/hour wage rate resolution to consider when laying out the 2022/2023 city budget.  The budget is set to be finalized next month at which point we should see whether this wage hike will actually take place.  Stay tuned. For additional information:   https:/

While Amazon continues to push back against the successful unionization of one of its warehouse in Staten Island, the company has come under fire over allegations that it terminated two workers at a facility in Maryland because they were attempting to unionize. Amazonians United, which has taken steps to organize Amazon warehouses around the country, has alleged that after two workers at the Maryland facility were encouraging their coworkers to unionize and stage a walkout, the company terminated these workers.  In response to these allegations, Amazon has argued that it did not violate federal labor law by terminating the two workers over their unionization efforts.  While Amazon did not provide further information, it indicated it would produce evidence to show the allegations were untrue and the workers were lawfully terminated. Although I would not necessarily read too much into these allegations, this is yet another headache for the company to deal with as it grapples with a growi

I came across two good articles this week that should give readers something to page through over the weekend.  While I do call attention to the article on Starbucks, I refer readers to the second article which traces the history of right to work laws in the country.  I encourage readers to spend the time paging through that article to get a better insight into the topic. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Before Starbucks Workers Had a Union, They Had “Coworker” Readers recall that the spread of unions at nearly 100 Starbucks locations around the country has become a major thorn in the side of Starbucks and anti union supporters.  As Caitlin Harrington over at Wired recently noted, before Starbucks workers had a union, they had a platform called “Coworker” that gave them a voice to try and fight for changes in the workplace.  This platform took center stage when Starbucks workers fought for the right to roll up their sleeves to expose tattoos (with v

  In a somewhat unique turn of events, following the nationwide rise in gas prices, the IRS announced a mid year change in mileage reimbursement rates.  Beginning July 1, 2022, the reimbursement rates have increased, and are as follows: 62.5 cents per mile for business miles driven (up 4 cents from the current rate); 22 cents per mile for medical or moving purposes (up 4 cents from the current rate); 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations (same as the current rate in effect). For those employers that use the standard IRS rate for mileage reimbursements, make sure to change your expense reimbursement policies, given this mid year change. 

On Saturday, it was announced that workers at an Apple retail store in Towson, Maryland had voted to unionize, forming the first union among retail workers at the company. With 110 workers eligible to vote at the store, there were 65 votes in favor of unionization with 33 against.   Readers might recall that this Apple retail location is one of three that has taken steps to unionize . Like with the ongoing unionization movement at Starbucks that started with the successful unionization at several Buffalo area locations, it will be worth watching to see if other Apple retail locations follow the lead of this Towson location. For additional information:   https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/18/apple-workers-in-maryland-vote-for-companys-first-unionized-store-in-us-.html

It is not every day that I come across an NBA related development, but given the issues around the Phoenix Suns organization and a recent development on the topic, this is as good of a week as any to highlight the matter. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Happening July 1: Wage Hike Coming to Minneapolis Beginning July 1, hourly workers will see a wage hike.  For employers with 100 or fewer employees, workers will begin to receive a wage of $13.50/hour (up from $12.50/hour).  For employers with more than 100 employees, workers will begin to receive a wage of $15/hour (up from $14.25/hour).  While we are still a few weeks out from these wage hikes, now is as good of a time as any for Minneapolis employers to prepare for the upcoming change. Activision Blizzard Recognizes Game Workers Alliance Union In recent weeks, I had noted that a group of quality assurance workers at Raven Software (which is under the Activision Blizzard umbrella) had voted to uni

Last Wednesday, a federal judge issued a ruling and held that Starbucks did not have to immediately reinstate two Phoenix area workers or provide an accommodation to another worker that claimed they were retaliated against for forming a union. According to the complaint, in response to efforts to unionize a Phoenix area location, Starbucks intentionally created scheduling obstacles for the workers and failed to provide an accommodation to one worker as requested under the Americans With Disabilities Act.   Two of the workers sought to be immediately rehired and the third sought to have an accommodation provided .  (Note, the worker that sought the accommodation had already returned to work.)  Now bear in mind this is not the final say on the matter.  The issue the federal judge ruled on was whether or not to issue an injunction to compel Starbucks to reinstate and provide an accommodation to the workers.  Today, June 14th, a National Labor Relations Board Judge will hear the case. Stay

Last Thursday, the Austin City Council passed the CROWN Act, marking a milestone achievement for this sort of ordinance in Texas. Readers might recall that the CROWN Act (aka the “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair” Act) has been approved elsewhere previously, including in California where it originated.   While other cities and states have debated passing a similar ordinance , including the U.S. Senate currently considering related legislation , it has still been slow to catch on. With that being said, with the Austin City Council approving the CROWN Act last week, the City Code will now be amended to prohibit discrimination against workers for natural hairstyles such as afros, cornrows, and bantu knots. Will other Texas cities follow Austin’s lead?  While it might take some time, I could see Houston or Dallas adopting a similar ordinance at some point down the road. For additional information:   https://www.austintexas.gov/news/austin-becomes-first-city-texas-pass

For those readers that are TikTok aficionados (or simply like a good story about a large scale employer potentially wading into a minefield), I refer you to the last article I am going to highlight this week.  I will caution readers that the story is still developing and not all the facts are yet known.  However, this is one that I will be interested to see progress. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Starbucks Accused of Unlawfully Closing Unionized Location Recently, Workers United, the union representing unionized workers at Starbucks, filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board and accused Starbucks of unlawfully closing an Ithaca, New York location that had voted to unionize back in April.  According to Workers United, workers at the Ithaca location went on strike following complaints about an unsafe working condition in relation to a grease trap at the store.  Starbucks thereafter decided to permanently close the sore and cited the

Recently, the Labor Department announced that it would seek input from employers about possible changes to independent contractor regulations at a June 24th forum on the matter. For those unaware, the prior administration had amended the rules on how workers are classified as independent contractors.  However, when President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, his administration indicated it would take steps to pull back on these changes.  While a lawsuit plays out in federal court, the Labor Department is seeking to make changes to independent contractor regulations via rulemaking.  As a result, holding a forum on June 24th is one step in furtherance of that rulemaking. Granted, any changes to the independent contractor regulations is still some time away from taking place (whether it happens via the case in federal court or by way of rulemaking).  In any event, this is one to keep an eye on in the coming months. For additional information:   https://blog.dol.gov/2022/06/03/misclas

Yesterday, it was announced that efforts to unionize three Starbucks locations in Chicago fell short with two of the three locations opting not to join Workers United. Readers might recall that Workers United is the union that has been relatively successful in unionizing Starbucks locations around the country.  Up until yesterday’s vote count and announcement, Workers United had been on a strong run of successful unionization efforts the past few months.  However, yesterday’s votes (6 - 7 at one location and 8 - 10 at another) is somewhat disheartening for labor organizers.  While these two losses are not necessarily indicative of a ground swell of support against unionization at Starbucks, it will be interesting to see if this is a minor blip or a sign that unionization efforts are cooling. For those wondering, the one location where unionization was successful saw workers vote 5 - 3 in favor of unionizing. For additional information:   https://chicago.suntimes.com/business/2022/6/7/2

For those looking for Elon Musk news, you are in luck!  No, I am not talking about his proposed acquisition of Twitter or the will he/won’t he take SpaceX public debate.  Rather, for purposes of this post, I wanted to highlight his recent announcement as it pertains to Tesla workers working remotely. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Tesla Moves to Bring All Workers Back to the Office Kara Carlson over at The Austin American-Statesman reported on Wednesday that Tesla has recently instructed its employees to make plans to return to the office full time or work for a different employer.  This is a somewhat odd decision for Tesla to make, given that many employers (including those in tech) have either allowed employees to continue work remote for the foreseeable future or have enacted some sort of hybrid setup.  Tesla has chosen to go the opposite direction by requiring its workers to be in a Tesla office for at least 40 hours per week.  The directive,

Last month, a union election was held amongst quality assurance testers that work at Raven Software, a subsidiary of the video game publisher Activision. All told, approximately 28 quality assurance testers at Raven were eligible to vote in the election with 24 actually choosing to participate.  After the results were announced, a resounding 19 voted in favor of unionizing with 3 votes against and 2 votes being challenged.  As a result, these workers at Raven formed the Game Workers Alliance union, marking a watershed moment at video game companies which for years have been able to keep unions out of the industry. With that being said, this successful unionization is noteworthy in that Activision is in the process of being acquired by Microsoft.  In recent days, Microsoft CEO of Gaming Phil Spencer indicated that he would recognize the Game Workers Alliance after the acquisition of Activision is complete.  While Activision has indicated it would challenge the results of the election, i

Last week, President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) had a vote on her nomination in the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions. With an 11 - 11 vote along party lines, the nomination of Kalpana Kotagal (“Kotagal”) tentatively moves forward.  I say tentatively because an 11 - 11 vote does not mean Kotagal’s nomination definitively moves forward or gets stalled in committee.  Instead, a notice of the 11 - 11 tie will be sent to the Secretary of the Senate.  After that happens, the nomination will await a motion to discharge the nomination vote by the full Senate. Democrats are intent to get Kotagal confirmed by the time Janet Dhillon’s term ends on July 1st.  I would suspect that when Congress comes back from its Memorial Day recess, Kotagal’s nomination will become a top priority.  Stay tuned. For additional information:   https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/help-committee-votes-to-advance-eeoc-educatio