The Majority Opinion: Legal Blog

As I finish up my cup of coffee at a nice little coffeehouse in Dallas before heading to court, I find it hard to narrow things down this week.  Between articles on minimum wage hikes, right to work issues, paid leave (and literally everything in between), I found it difficult to not highlight a vast majority of articles I came across this week.  With that being said, I think the articles highlighted below will give readers a good overview of some major developments this past week, in particular the recent nomination to the National Labor Relations Board. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Ivanka Trump Finds Paid Leave To Be An Uphill Fight As a follow up to last week's note , Ivanka Trump appears to still be looking for a member of Congress to support the President's proposal for six weeks of paid leave for new mothers and fathers.  The plan, proposed in President Donald Trump's budget several weeks ago, resulted in Ivanka ma...

Back in early 2015, I pointed readers to a case in Rhode Island that was thought to be the first to invoke the anti discrimination provisions of Rhode Island's medical marijuana law .  That law, known as the Hawkins-Slater Act, provides that "No school, employer, or landlord may refuse to enroll, employ, or lease to, or otherwise penalize, a person solely for his or her status as a [medical marijuana] cardholder."  After long last, this case has been decided by the Court. Callaghan v. Darlington Fabrics - Rhode Island Superior Court Facts :  Christine Callaghan ("Callaghan") sought an internship with Darlington Fabrics ("Darlington") in conjunction with a Master's program she was a part of that the University of Rhode Island.  On June 30, 2014, Callaghan met with Darlington's Human Resources Coordinator Karen McGrath to discuss the internship.  At that meeting, Callaghan signed Darlington's Fitness for Duty Statement in whic...

Recently, Republican Senator Lamar Alexander (who is also Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) introduced legislation to repeal the "ambush election" rule which came into existence during the Obama administration .  The rule, frequently criticized by Republicans and pro-employer groups, aimed to speed up the union election process by restricting court challenges prior to an election.  Under this rule, a union election can occur in as little as 11 days...a far cry from the prior 25 day delay that normally occurred between the time a regional director directed an election and the election itself actually occurring.  Critics of this rule have continually pointed out that this small time frame gives employers little notice to figure out what is going on before the election even occurs.  Consequently, employers are given little time to prepare for a union election and potentially fight the unionization, if they so choose.  Th...

I came across a lot of great articles earlier this week that would certainly warrant their own individual post.  However, I decided to pick and choose a few of the more relevant articles to focus on with this post.  Perhaps one of the more noteworthy developments was Ivanka Trump's trip to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers to discuss the proposed paid parental leave plan that the Trump administration recently announced.  For those looking for a breakdown of the initial interaction between Ivanka Trump and Senator Marco Rubio ( namely his 'failed' hug which somehow generated a bit of a Tweetstorm ), I am afraid you will have to look elsewhere...this post will instead focus on the potential ramifications of that Capitol Hill meeting with an eye toward the possibility of a paid parental leave plan becoming a reality. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Ivanka Trump Leads Round table Meeting on Capitol Hill on Paid Parental Leave ...

Back in 2015 , a verdict was awarded in a case in favor of an employee who brought suit against CONSOL Energy, Inc. ("CONSOL") on the grounds that the company failed to accommodate the employee's refusal to use a biometric hand scanner at work on the grounds that it conflicted with the employee's religious beliefs.  CONSOL subsequently appealed the verdict and earlier this month, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling in favor of the employee. Facts :  For those needing a refresher, Beverly Butcher, Jr. ("Butcher") worked as a coal miner at a mine owned by CONSOL.  When CONSOL implemented a biometric hand scanner to track its employees, Butcher objected and informed his supervisors that his religious beliefs prevented him from using the system.  (Butcher believed using the hand scanner would "mark" him the sign of the beast and allow the Antichrist to control him.)  Although CONSOL provided an alternative to employees who...

As with many employment and labor law related cases (and bills) that are being litigated around the country, there are always a few that stand out.  This is one to keep an eye on. Facts : Illinois' Public Labor Relations Act authorizes exclusive representatives to enter into agency fee agreements with the State of Illinois that require employees, as a condition of their employment, to "pay their proportionate share of the costs of the collective bargaining process, contract administration, and pursuing matters affecting wages, hours and other conditions of employment" to that particular union. The State of Illinois is party to agency fee agreements with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ("AFSCME") and the General Teamsters/Professional & Technical Employees Local Union No. 916 ("Teamsters"), such that employees represented by these unions are forced to pay compulsory agency fees.  As a result, Mark...

A good portion of my week was spent in trial preparation and the subsequent trial.  Although I had little time to read through articles, being out of the office most of the week, there were still a couple articles I wanted to note. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Wage & Overtime Suit Brought By Current and Former Employees of Founding Farmers Last week, several current and former employees brought suit against the company that oversees the Founding Farmers restaurants located in Maryland and D.C.  As Tim Carman at The Washington Post  indicates, this lawsuit is based in part upon claims that employees were not paid overtime wages.  Although many employees worked at different locations throughout the week (and worked more than 40 hours combined among locations), they claim the company failed to pay them overtime wages in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Of course, this lawsuit was just filed la...