The Majority Opinion: Legal Blog

It has been a busy couple of days of travel for work, but I still wanted to highlight some articles.  One of my favorites was from Kris Dunn on what employers can learn from the departure of Bill Simmons from ESPN.  Highly relevant and easy to follow. As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week. Update on Connecticut Legislative Bills Dan Schwartz has a good note on several bills pending in the Connecticut legislature.  As he notes, there are several pending, but the ones he highlighted are the bills that could have more of an impact.  Well worth a quick review. What An Employer Can Learn From ESPN's Firing of Bill Simmons Earlier this month, Bill Simmons and ESPN parted ways.  There have been a number of reports, rumors, articles, etc. about whether Simmons was fired or whether the parting was mutual.  In any event, Kris Dunn has a couple good thoughts on what an employer can take away from the situation, in regard t...

While it is generally illegal for an employer to require applicants from disclosing social media logins and passwords, Senate Bill 185 would take things a step further.  Oregon is poised to become the first state to expand its social media workplace laws and forbid employers from requiring their employees or applicants to have personal social media accounts as a condition of employment.  The bill made it through the Oregon House and Senate without a vote against it.  At this point, the only thing left is for the Governor to sign the bill into law.   Note that this bill would only impact social media accounts used exclusively for personal use and unrelated to any business purpose of the employer (or prospective employer). The bill also would not impact any social media accounts that are provided by or paid for by the employer (or prospective employer). A copy of the bill can be found here:  https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2015R1/Downloads/MeasureD...

Sweet v. LinkedIn Corporation - U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division Facts :  Tracy Sweet ("Sweet") submitted her resume to a potential employer through LinkedIn and was invited to interview for the position.  Although she got word that she would be hired, the company called Sweet back and informed her they had changed their mind and would not hire her for the position.  When Sweet questioned what happened, the company told her it had checked some references, and based upon those references, had changed its mind.  Apparently the company had used the Reference Search function on LinkedIn to identify references of Sweet. Sweet, along with others, brought suit against LinkedIn on the grounds that the Reference Search violated their rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA").  Holding :  The District Court held that LinkedIn's Reference Search is not a consumer report under the FCRA.  The pu...

As with many labor and employment law cases around the country, there are always a few that stand out.  This is one to keep an eye on. Facts :  Several former security guards brought a class action and alleged they were entitled to additional compensation as a result of having to monitor work radios and pagers while on unpaid breaks and respond if an emergency arose.  The guards claimed that because they were not relieved of all duties while on an unpaid break, there were entitled to compensation for this time spent monitoring work radios and being available to respond if needed.  The trial court agreed and awarded the plaintiffs a judgment of nearly $90 million. Looking Back :  Earlier this year, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division One, reversed an award of nearly $90 million dollars from the lower court and held that an employee who is on call during a break is not actually working and therefore is not entitled to be c...

There are always a few articles that I write about which I suggest readers keep an eye on down the road.  Some of my posts that I suggest readers follow up on focus on legislative bills or amendments, while others deal with pending employment and labor law issues in courts across the country.  This week, I wanted to take a look back at some big employment and labor law related issues that have recent updates which I think readers would enjoy. As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week. Buffalo Bills Cheerleader Suit Continues After N.F.L.'s Motion Denied The Buffalo News has an article from earlier this month and details a recent decision by a judge to deny the N.F.L's request to dismiss the league from the Buffalo Bills cheerleaders' wage and hour lawsuit.  ( Buffalo Bills Cheerleaders File Wage & Hour Suit ).  The N.F.L. had argued that it was not an employer of the cheerleaders and was not responsible for the pay/alleged mis...

Late yesterday, it was announced that the Los Angeles City Council approved a measure to raise  minimum wage rates in the city to $15/hour by July 2020.  After much debate and discussion on the topic, the vote ended up with 14 in favor and 1 against.  Currently, minimum wage rates in the city sit at $9/hour with an increase to $10/hour coming in January.  As readers are aware, the push for an increased minimum wage has been a hot talking point lately, including with the recent "Fight for $15" rallies and protests a few weeks ago.  Some credit the City Council's approval of this minimum wage increase yesterday with the Council's approval last year of a $15.37 minimum wage rate increase for workers in the city's hotel industry.  ( Los Angeles City Hotel Workers Receive Minimum Wage Increase ).   At this point, the measure faces a final vote before it could be approved by Mayor Eric Garcetti.  The fight is not over, yet, but things are cer...

Recently, I detailed the recent bill out of Wisconsin in which the state became the 25th state to pass Right to Work legislation ( Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Signs into Law Right to Work Legislation ).  I also talked about the push in New Mexico to become the 26th state to sign into law this legislation ( New Mexico Pushes for Right to Work Legislation ).   However, news has come out that the bill, which would ban mandatory union dues as a condition of employment. has been tabled by the Democratically controlled New Mexico Senate.  Unsurprisingly, the bill passed the Republican controlled House who supported the Right to Work legislation.  That was not enough though to get past the Senate Public Affairs Committee who voted 5 to 3 to table it. At this point, with Democrats not on board with the legislation, it is next to impossible to get this bill through as is.   However, all New Mexico legislative seats are up for election in 2016.  F...