The Majority Opinion: Legal Blog

This week, I came across several articles on right to work.  Not withstanding Ohio Governor John Kasich's pledge that the state would not pass a right to work law so long as he is in office , for another four months, there have been some developments in New Mexico and Michigan that I want to highlight for readers. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. $15/Hour Minimum Wage Coming to New Jersey...At Some Point Matt Arco wrote an article late last week that noted while New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy made a $15/hour minimum wage a major campaign pledge last year, there appears to be a delay in the New Jersey Legislature in regard to actually getting a minimum wage bill before the Governor by the end of the year.  The sticking point?  Some in the Legislature want carve outs so the $15/hour minimum wage hike would not apply to farm workers and teenagers.  However, apparently Governor Murphy does not want carve outs in any minimu...

Automation in some industries has become a major talking point over the past few years as employers seek to offset rising labor costs by eliminating some jobs and replacing those workers with robots, machines, and other automated equipment .  It is worth noting that while manufacturing positions have a long history of automation, some positions (including in the hotel industry) have largely avoided being phased out by the increase in technology in the workplace.  However, thousands of workers at Marriott have recently voted to authorize their union, Unite Here, to strike at locations stretching from Waikiki Beach to San Diego to Detroit and all the way to Boston.  Their reasoning?  In part, asking the hotel chain to adopt procedures to protect workers affected by new technologies.  This is likely due in part to an agreement that Marriott reached with Amazon to have the Echo put in hotel rooms across Marriott's properties.  For those unaware, the ...

On September 17th, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Mazie Hirono, Tammy Baldwin, and Cory Booker sent a letter to the Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") John Ring and urged him to ensure that Board Member William Emanuel is recused from participating in a case in which his former employer, Littler Mendelson, currently represents a party.  (Quite a mouthful, right?  Let us break things down a bit further to make sure we are all on the same page.) Purple Communications In 2014, the NLRB issued a ruling in Purple Communications that found that when an employer grants workers access to company e-mail, the employer cannot interfere with the workers using that e-mail on non-working time to organize and advocate for better working conditions.  That decision was met with much angst among employers and pro-business groups.  Currently, that case is on appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Currently, the...

Last week, the D.C. Council continued to confer on rescinding Initiative 77, despite increased opposition from voters and labor advocates.  As a refresher, back in June, voters in the District of Columbia approved Initiative 77 which would raise the hourly pay rate of tipped workers in the city from the present rate of $3.33/hour up to $15/hour in the coming years.  Despite Initiative 77 being approved by approximately 55% of voters, there was widespread speculation that the D.C. Council might step in and attempt to curb the implementation of this ballot measure .  It turns out that speculation might have been correct as the D.C. Council has started to hear testimony about rescinding Initiative 77. While nothing is official and the approval by voters of Initiative 77 has not been reversed, I would certainly expect the D.C. Council will move to amend the approval of a higher hourly pay rate for tipped workers in the District.  Stay tuned. For additional ...

The battle over classifying workers as independent contractors rather than employees...a tale as old as time.  The Atlantic examined the cannabis industry in California and pondered whether workers being reclassified has been beneficial to either, both, or neither party.  With other related gig company workers seeking to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors , perhaps this situation in California could serve as a litmus test as to the viability of re-classifying workers in this industry? As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. Long Island Target Workers Reject Union Representation Back in 2015, I had highlighted an attempt by workers to unionize at a Target store in Brooklyn .  That unionization effort was rare as Target has both been proactive in combating unionization of its workplaces as well as the fact that so few union elections had occurred at Target previously.  It has been somewhat quiet since...

At long last, on September 14th, the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") published in the Federal Register the proposed joint employer standard, based upon the vacated decision in Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors, Ltd .   Readers might recall that ever since the NLRB had majority control by Republicans, employers and pro-business groups pushed for a change to the Browning-Ferris joint employer standard (established during the President Barack Obama NRLB era) that stipulated that joint employer liability could exist if an employer exercised direct or indirect control over a separate employer's employees. Under this proposed rule, an employer may be considered a joint employer of a separate employer's employees only if the two employers share or co-determine the employees' essential terms and conditions of employment, such as firing, discipline, supervision, and direction.  Going one step further, this rule would establish that the putative joint employe...

In a potentially far reaching, coordinated effort, McDonald's workers across the country are set to strike at lunchtime today to bring attention to on the job sexual harassment and demand better pay.  This strike comes on the heels of complaints against the company by 25 women that alleged the company failed to enforce rules against sexual harassment in the workplace.  The strike, inspired by the #MeToo movement, has been organized by women who filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as well as groups such as the Fight for $15 movement. As of this writing, McDonald's has not addressed whether it plans to close, ahead of today's strike.  However, a spokesperson has stated that the company opposes harassment or discrimination of any kind at McDonald's and has policies, procedures, and training in place to prevent sexual harassment. Whether today's strike brings the desired change to McDonald's is difficult to say.  At the ve...