One week after his inauguration, President Donald Trump has taken additional moves to impact the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
Trump Moves Quickly to Reshape the NLRB
As we expected, and reported here, President Trump has moved quickly to re-make the NLRB. Almost immediately after taking office, the President named Republican board member Marvin Kaplan as Chair of the NLRB. … Continue Reading
On Monday, January 27, 2025, the acting head of the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) issued a memo ordering the pause of all federal financial assistance “that may be implicated” by any of President Trump’s recent barrage of Executive Orders. According to the memo, the freeze encompasses funding for activities including, but not limited to, “foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”… Continue Reading
As anticipated, immediately upon his inauguration, President Trump took swift action in the labor and employment arena. His initial appointments and Executive Orders left no doubt that his administration will make an abrupt and definitive break with his predecessor.
President Trump first appointed new leaders to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) and the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”), and then took additional actions aimed at halting and reversing many Biden-era initiatives and policies.… Continue Reading
On December 12, 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a final rule updating its personal protective equipment (PPE) standard for construction workers. The new rule explicitly requires that such equipment fit each employee properly. The rule is scheduled to become effective on January 13, 2025. When it does, it will result in OSHA’s construction industry standard mirroring the standards that already apply to general industry and other specific types of work.… Continue Reading
On Tuesday, December 10, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision that will make it more difficult for a unionized employer to make unilateral changes to working conditions. The decision, Endurance Environmental, found here, overturns a Trump-era rule established in 2019 and returns to the “clear and unmistakable” waiver standard which had been in place for decades.… Continue Reading
In a unanimous decision, on May 15, 2024, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the state’s amendments (Chapter 212) to the Wage Payment Law (WPL) and the Wage and Hour Law (WHL) apply prospectively, and therefore plaintiffs cannot rely on the amendments to recover for any conduct that took place before the amendment’s effective date on August 6, 2019.… Continue Reading
As we previously reported, here, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to issue a final rule (the “Rule”) that would prevent most employers from enforcing noncompete agreements against workers, with only limited exceptions for existing noncompetes with senior executives and noncompetes made in connection with the bona fide sale of a business.… Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted yesterday to issue a final rule that will prevent most employers from enforcing noncompete agreements against workers, with only limited exceptions for existing noncompetes with senior executives and noncompetes made in connection with the bona fide sale of a business. Employers must review existing and prospective employment agreements and revise them to comply with the new rule, which, unless enjoined by a court, will go into effect 120 days after publication in the Federal Register, expected in the coming days.… Continue Reading
On Monday, February 5, a Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a ruling that Dartmouth College basketball players are employees of the school, allowing them to vote on unionizing. The NLRB’s Boston Regional Director, Laura Sacks, issued her opinion after all 15 members of the Dartmouth men’s basketball team signed a petition on September 13, 2023 to be represented by the Service Employees International Union, Local 560, a union which already represents some of the school’s employees.… Continue Reading
On January 9, 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule that provides revised guidance on whether a worker is properly classified as an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the FLSA, employees are entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay, while independent contractors are not.… Continue Reading