The Majority Opinion: Legal Blog

Ah yes, a favorite situation.  You are flying into/out of an airport and maybe missed a meal.  What better time to grab a bite than when you are waiting for your flight?  Unfortunately, for those flying in or out of San Francisco International Airport, your options might be a bit limited. Last week, over 1,000 food workers at SFO began a strike over their fight for higher wages and healthcare.  While attempts to reach some sort of resolution played out over 8 months, a compromise could not be reached.  While most restaurants in the airport are closed, newsstands (which normally sell chips, sodas, etc.) remain open and unaffected. That might lead some to wonder whether there is light at the end of the tunnel.  For the time being, both the union and SFO remain at a standstill while negotiations continue.  That has led non-unionized food workers and managers left to fill the gap and try to keep some restaurants running on a more limited basis.  While...

Recently, REI announced that on Election Day (November 8th), it would open its stores two hours late to allow its workers time to vote. This is a somewhat unusual development for a company with nearly 200 stores nationwide.  With that being said, with the company currently facing unionization efforts (with workers at a Berkeley, California location voting to unionize last month), this is one way the company is helping promote itself as an employee friendly workplace. Will other large scale employers follow suit?  I would suspect we will start to see others follow suit but would be surprised if major big box retailers join.  With that being said, I expect pressure to ramp up on employers headed into Election Day as workers (and pro employee groups) push for more employers to open late (or close early) so that employees may have time to vote. For additional information:   https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rei-to-give-every-employee-paid-time-off-to-vote-30163374...

For those that have been living under a rock, following the leak of the United States Supreme Court opinion earlier this year that would have overturned Roe v. Wade (and the subsequent issuance of the opinion on June 24th that did just that), there has been much discussion and debate around the country in regard to what happens next.  Of course, this is a labor & employment law blog so for the purposes of this post, I am only going to highlight how the repeal of Roe v. Wade has started to impact those in the workplace, in particular how some employers are handling the development. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Following Repeal of Roe v. Wade , Some Companies Begin to Offer Assistance to Workers As reported by Reuters, following last Friday’s decision from the Supreme Court that repealed Roe v. Wade (at the federal level and left it up to the states to handle), some companies have indicated they will begin to cover the cost and expense fo...

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...