SCOTUS Reverts to Employer-Friendly Injunction Rule
SCOTUS Reverts to Employer Friendly Injunction Rule On June 13, 2024, in Starbucks v. McKinney, the U.S. Supreme Court reverted to an older and more stringent four-part test to be used when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeks an injunction against an employer. The NLRB enforces the National Labor Relations Act’s (NLRA) prohibition on employers engaging in unfair labor practices. Due to the lengthy nature of NLRB proceedings, the NLRB often seeks a preliminary injunction against an employer to stop what it believes is an unfair labor practice during the pendency of the suit. This traditional four-part test makes it more
New FTC Rule Bans Noncompetes (Or Tries To)
New FTC Rule Bans Noncompetes (or tries to) On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a final rule that would ban most noncompete agreements. Touting that the rule “will generate over 8,500 new businesses each year, raise worker wages, lower health care costs, and boost innovation,” the FTC estimated that approximately 30 million employees are subject to noncompete agreements. The rule caveats employer’s existing noncompetes with senior executives, permitting them to remain in force. However, all other noncompetes will be ineffective after the 120-day period after the publication of the final rule expires. Faced with this, many companies are
Supreme Court Lowers Discrimination Threshold for Job Transfers
Supreme Court Lowers Discrimination Threshold for Job Transfers On April 17, 2024, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling lowered the bar employees must clear to prove discrimination in job transfer lawsuits. In the case at bar, a police officer who worked as a task force officer with an intelligence unit in the FBI was reassigned by a new unit commander who cited that the intelligence unit’s work was “very dangerous.” Her new assignment stripped her of a regular work schedule, a vehicle, and her status with the FBI. The Court reversed the appellate ruling against the officer and outlined a less-stringent test
FLSA and Belo Plans
Fair Labor Standards Act and Belo Plans In 1938, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLS set the minimum wage, introduced the forty-hour work week, restricted child labor, and set overtime pay regulation.But, as employers soon realized, the overtime provision requiring time-and-a-half to be paid often creates complicated bookkeeping. To remedy this, employers were permitted to institute a Belo plan. This plan allows employers to pay employees who work unpredictable schedules a fixed salary. Employers like the simplicity, and employees enjoy the steady paycheck.To qualify as a Belo plan under the FLSA, though, four
Upcoming Department of Labor Rule Change Clamps Down on Independent Contractors
Soon, a new Department of Labor rule will make it more difficult for someone to qualify as an independent contractor. On January 10, 2024, the Department of Labor announced a rule that provides updated guidance on whether an individual is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The rule, which will go into effect on March 11, 2024, replaces a rule promulgated under the Trump administration that made it easier for individuals to qualify as independent contractors. In its press release, the Department of Labor argued that the old rule caused a “misclassification of employees as
NLRB Cracks Down on Employer Handbook Rulemaking
On August 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) published its long-anticipated decision in Stericycle on how employer rules would be interpreted.[1] This ruling overruled the prior standard, Boeing,[2] and returned to a version of the rule announced in Luther Heritage Village-Livonia.[3] While the Boeing decision was more permissive of broad employer rules, the Stericycle decision creates a burden-shifting test that will force employers to be more cautious in their rulemaking. Under Stericycle, it must first be shown that “a challenged rule has a reasonable tendency to chill employees from exercising their Section 7 rights.”[4] The Board
Stericycle Summary
On August 2, 2023, The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) overruled the prior decisions in Boeing Co. and LA Specialty Produce Co. because they permitted employers to adopt “overbroad work rules” that chill employees’ exercise of their rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB found that the former standard failed to account for the economic dependency of employees on their employers, gives too little weight to the burden a work rule could impose, gives too much weight to employer interests, and does not require the employer to make rules only to promote legitimate and substantial
NLRB Joint Employer Status Rule Change
On October 26, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its Final Rule broadening what entities can be considered “joint employers” under the National Labor Relations Act. If considered a joint employer, a business can be held liable for the actions of the other employer it allegedly has control over and must engage in collective bargaining relating to the “essential terms and conditions of employment” over which it has control. Under the previous 2020 rule, an employer had to ‘“possess and exercise . . . substantial direct and immediate control’ over essential terms and conditions of employment.” 1 The NLRB
EEOC Proposes Updates to Workplace Harassment Guidelines for First Time in 25 Years
By a 3-2 vote, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published and invited public comment on draft guidelines on responding to workplace harassment. The amended guidelines have the potential to be the first amendments made to the EEOC’s workplace harassment guidelines in almost 25 years. Similar efforts to amend the guidelines stalled under the Trump administration in 2017. The Commission lists its two goals as, “preventing and remedying systemic harassment, and protecting vulnerable workers and people from underserved communities from harassment.”1 The proposed guidelines reflect and sometimes build upon recent changes in law. For example, in Bostock v. Clayton County, the U.S. Supreme Court held that held that
DOL Reverts to Old Ideas for New Construction Worker Wages
On August 8, 2023, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced their final rule (Final Rule) revising the Davis-Bacon Act (DBA) and Davis-Bacon Related Acts (Related Acts). The DBA and Related Acts require contractors and subcontractors that perform work on federal and federally funded construction projects to pay a government-determined prevailing wage and benefit rate on an hourly basis to on-site construction workers. While the Final Rule makes several changes to the DBA and Related Acts, (the list is too exhaustive to cover in a single blurb such as this) it’s the change regarding how the prevailing wages are determined that is