The Majority Opinion: Legal Blog

This year saw a wide range of labor and employment law issues:  We have had everything from proposals to drastically alter the NLRB and NLRA , Right to Work zones in Illinois , HR dilemmas over what to do when an employer requires employees to break the law , California passing legislation to provide labor protections to cheerleaders in the state , religious discrimination suits filed by television personalities , "unlimited" vacation days for Netflix employees , all the way to President Obama announcing his support of "Ban the Box" measures , Presidential candidates announcing support for minimum wage increases , and the first union election being upheld at a Target store in Brooklyn .  And that only grazes the surface of some of the developments over the past twelve months!   I certainly appreciate readers following along with me as I track these emerging issues and point out trends that have developed.  With this being the end of the year (and my fina...

As always, there are some recent EEOC cases that jump out at me when I review recent developments on that front.  Below are a couple EEOC cases and settlements that stand out: EEOC Claim Against Costco to Proceed to a Jury Recently, a federal district judge held that an EEOC claim that alleged that Costco violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (by failing to prevent a male customer from stalking and harassing a female employee) will proceed to a jury.  In denying Costco's motion for summary judgment, the court held that there was sufficient evidence to allow the claim to proceed.  Of note, the female employee was subjected to harassing behavior by the male customer for over a year and the conduct continued to escalate (including unwanted touching, "ominous" staring, and other intrusive actions.  The court found that there was evidence that Costco failed to take reasonable steps to stop the harassment, thus the hostile work environment claim was a...

Recently, Hiscox put out a publication that has a fascinating look at the employee charge trends in the U.S.  This Guide to Employee Lawsuits has an in depth look at several areas of employment litigation that I think readers should note.  In particular: Across the U.S., companies had an 11.7% chance of having an employment charge being filed.  New Mexico has the highest percentage chance of an employment charge being filed (+66% above the national average), with the District of Columbia (+65%), Nevada (+47%), Alabama (+41%), and California (+40%) following close behind. 275 days was the average duration of an employment law matter. For employment law matters that did end up in court, the median judgment was approximately $200,000.00. 25% of cases that ended up in court resulted in a judgment of $500,000.00 or more. The article also includes a couple suggestions on what employers can do to prevent employment charges.  Some of these suggestions are commo...

Shorter week in the office with the Christmas break.  With that being said, I found more time than the past few weeks to read through some great articles.  In particular, the analysis of how the Democratic party has become so closely intertwined with the Fight for $15 movement was a fascinating read. As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week. Four Non-Compete and Confidentiality Agreement Issues On the Horizon for 2016 Over at Jackson Lewis, an article was recently put out in regard to four non-compete and confidentiality agreement issues that are likely to become major issues in 2016.  Readers should note that the article goes beyond just identifying these four big issues.  Instead, the article also points to recent cases from around the country and shows the split that exists among many states/circuits.  Well worth a read. The Fight for a $15 Minimum Wage & Its Ties to the Democratic Party Bryce Covert has a well w...

Recently, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity ("DEO") held that Uber drivers are independent contractors and therefore not entitled to unemployment benefits.  The issues arose after Darrin McGillis and Melissa Ewers both wanted to be Uber drivers in Florida.  They downloaded the driver app and started to work for Uber.  However, Uber ultimately revoked McGillis and Ewers' access to the app and they both filed for unemployment benefits.  Initially, the Florida Department of Revenue ruled they were both employees and entitled to benefits.  However, Uber appealed the ruling.   In the DEO opinion, it was noted that Uber allows drivers to use the app on their own terms.  Drivers can decide when and how long to drive (which gave the drivers "control over the details of their work"...that's a buzz word right there), use their own vehicles for work, choose customers, and can even work for competitors if they choose.  Therefore, Uber...

Shorter week in the office coming back from New York and handling a few matters out of town for work.  As a result, it was another week where I only had a few spare minutes to read through some articles.  I normally do not post much in the way of international developments in the labor and employment law field.  However, this week I came across some good articles on developments in the UK and Russia that I think warrant a special post. As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week. Rising Minimum Wage in the UK to Cost Over 1 Billion Pounds Good article from Forbes on the predicted impact that the new minimum wage in the UK will have on businesses.  Chancellor George Osborne's decision to raise the minimum wage next year is predicted to cost private employers over 1 billion Pounds.  Note, these predicted costs include wages and non-wage labor costs (such as employers' National Insurance contributions).  Quite a steep cost for r...

Last week, the New York Industrial Board of Appeals upheld the proposed $15 per hour minimum wage rate for New York fast food workers.  Under the law, the minimum wage rate would increase in gradual increments to $15 per hour for New York City fast food workers.  The rest of the state would see the increase by 2021.   The National Restaurant Association had claimed the proposed law was unconstitutional on the grounds that it unfairly targeted restaurants that would have to pay each worker on average $11,000.00 more each year than non fast food and retail stores.  (Note, for those non fast food minimum wage employers, a $9 per hour minimum wage rate will go into effect on December 31, 2015.).  However, this argument did not carry much weight before the Industrial Board as it was soundly rejected.  Even with this ruling from the Industrial Board, the National Restaurant Association has indicated they will likely take their fight to court.  ...