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 les...

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 inf...

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 wit...

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 exp...

  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