Labor

Within hours of his inauguration, President Biden broke with tradition by firing the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after he refused to resign.  Some companies have claimed that this decision was improper and left the acting General Counsel named in his place without legal authority to act, setting up an anticipated…

The United States Supreme Court (“Supreme Court”) has dealt a blow to organized labor, striking down as unconstitutional a California law that permitted union organizers access to agricultural company land to speak with workers.

Two California growers, Cedar Point Nursery and Fowler Packing Company, filed suit in federal district court, seeking to enjoin enforcement of…

On Tuesday, April 27, President Biden signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their employees a minimum of $15 an hour starting on March 30, 2022. After that, the order will continue to index the minimum wage for federal contractors to an inflation measure.

This raise in the pay floor – which was…

On April 26, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order establishing the “White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment” (the “Task Force”), which will be dedicated to mobilizing the federal government’s policies, programs, and practices to empower workers to organize and successfully bargain with their employers.

The Task Force will be chaired by…

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division just launched a new initiative called “Essential Workers, Essential Protections” that provides workers with information about the wage and hour laws that apply to them, including instructions on how to contact the DOL with questions or complaints.

In conjunction with this new initiative, the…

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) recently held that Tesla Inc. and CEO Elon Musk violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by infringing on employees’ protected rights through a tweet, and through an overly-broad confidentiality agreement employees were required to sign.

Musk’s tweet, posted on May 20, 2018 read:

“Nothing stopping Tesla…

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have exempted graduate students from the definition of “employees” under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).  Under the rule proposed in 2019, discussed in more detail here, the NLRB would have declared the relationship of graduate students with their…

Labor and Employment partner David Fryman leads a conversation on employment restrictive covenants. Joining David are Juliana van Hoeven and Elliot Griffin, associates in the group. Together, David, Juli, and Elliot, review a number of important points regarding restrictive covenants: including the circumstances that make the use of restrictive covenants advisable or not, what’s required…

On February 4, 2021, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) reintroduced federal legislation designed to significantly expand the rights of workers to unionize and enhance protections to employees whose efforts to do so are impeded by employers, or who are retaliated against for engaging in protected activity. The bill, known as…