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eUpdate

May 09, 2012
EEOC Declares Employment Protection for Transgender Workers

Author: Jennifer Robbins
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law that protects employees from discrimination based on…

eUpdate

April 24, 2012
NLRB Notice Posting Temporarily Enjoined

Author: Jennifer Robbins
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily enjoined the NLRB's rule requiring private-sector employers to notify employees of their rights under…

eUpdate

April 11, 2012
Supreme Court Restricts State Employees’ Remedies for FMLA Violations

Author: Danielle Franco-Malone
In Coleman v. Court of Appeals of Maryland, the Supreme Court ruled that state employees who are wrongfully denied FMLA leave for their own health care (“self-care”), cannot sue for damages. State employers are still required to grant…

eUpdate

April 09, 2012
ULP Settlement Signals NLRB Is Poised To Declare E-Verify a Mandatory Topic Which Must Be Bargained Before Implementation

Author: Terry Costello

In a recent California case, the employer unilaterally adopted the E-Verify program. The union charged the employer with an unfair labor practice for failing to...

eUpdate

March 26, 2012
Boss Draws Board Sanction for Ordering Workers to Stop Whispering

Author: Terry Costello
The NLRB has affirmed an ALJ decision finding the employer committed several violations of Section 8(a)(1) of the Act when it interrogated several employees regarding the author of an anonymous letter that he received in response to…

eUpdate

March 22, 2012
Department of Labor Releases Updated Online Interactive Advisor on Family and Medical Leave Act

Author: Kathy Barnard
The U.S. Department of Labor recently released an updated version of its Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Advisor. This online resource helps clarify which employers are required to provide FMLA leave as well as

eUpdate

March 20, 2012
Immigration Status Not Discoverable In Title VII Suits

Author: Terry Costello

U.S. District Courts in Washington and Florida have recently blocked employers from delving into the immigration status of employees suing them under Title VII for discriminatory employment practices. Both courts granted…

eUpdate

March 14, 2012
Taking Photos of Co-Workers Can Be Concerted Activity

Author: Terry Costello
An employee wore a hat to work because she was embarrassed by a bad haircut, but a manager instructed her to remove the hat. The next day she returned to work and began taking photographs of other employees who…

eUpdate

February 16, 2012
Interrupted Meal Periods Result In Penalty Pay, Arbitrator Rules

Author: Carson Glickman-Flora
On February 9, 2012, Arbitrator Michael Beck ruled that one of the primary contractors at the Brightwater Conveyance System Project, a $1.8 dollar billion public works project aimed at updating King County's sewage management infrastructure, was obligated under the Project Labor Agreement to…

eUpdate

February 09, 2012
Duty of Fair Representation: Court Says Local Can Be Held Liable For Failing To Submit A Timely Wage Reopener Request

Author: Dmitri Iglitzin
A federal court in Illinois has held that a Teamsters local can be held liable for wages lost by union members on the basis that the local failed to properly request…

eUpdate

February 02, 2012
NLRB Regions will pursue more allegations of union discrimination, rather than defer them to arbitration

Author: Carson Glickman-Flora

Under new guidance from the General Counsel, NLRB Regions will pursue more allegations of union discrimination, rather than defer them to arbitration - Policy affects cases where arbitration would not conclude within 1 year

The National Labor Relations Board’s perfunctory deferral of nearly any unfair labor practice that…

eUpdate

January 03, 2012
Campaign Finance eUpdate

Author: Dmitri Iglitzin
Washington State's law that restricts large donations to ballot measures in the three weeks before an election is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled…

eUpdate

November 09, 2011
Washington State Court Of Appeals Holds Employers Have Duty To Provide Meal Breaks And Rest Periods

Author: Carson Glickman-Flora
Washington State Court Of Appeals Holds Employers Have Duty To Provide (Not Just "Allow") Meal Breaks And Rest Periods; Finds That Paid Breaks Must Provide Actual "Relief From Work Or Exertion"; Also Rejects Oft-Repeated "Intermittent" Break Defense By Employer

eUpdate

October 13, 2011
Deadline For Making Contributions & Pledges In Excess of $5,000 Is This Coming Monday, October 17, 2011

Author: Dmitri Iglitzin
Calendar alert: political committees may not accept any contributions of over $5,000 after Monday, October 17, which is 22 days before the election and therefore still…

eUpdate

October 11, 2011
NLRB Holds 2:1 That Some Confrontational Behavior By Employees Was Protected, But Actually Touching A Manager Was Not

Author: Dmitri Iglitzin
The National Labor Relations Board just held, on a 2-1 vote, that a New York hotel acted lawfully when it fired three employees who grabbed and pushed a manager in a confrontation over…

eUpdate

October 06, 2011
NLRB Postpones Effective Date Of New Rule Requiring Notice Of Employee Rights

Author: Jennifer Robbins
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a Final Rule requiring employers to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Yesterday, the NLRB announced that it has postponed the implementation date for its new notice-posting rule by…

eUpdate

September 29, 2011
Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Law Requiring Trucking Firms To Use Employees, Not Independent Contractors

Author: Dmitri Iglitzin
In a blow to efforts to harness the power of state and local governments to impact the relationship between employers and their workers, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just held that…

eUpdate

September 27, 2011
Campaign Finance eUpdate: Time to build your independent expenditure firewall!

Author: Dmitri Iglitzin
The gubernatorial election is fourteen months away, but Jay Inslee's campaign for governor is in full swing. Even though unions may…

eUpdate

September 22, 2011
The NLRB clarifies rules about when a union may finance and file a lawsuit to remedy workplace violations

Author: Jennifer Robbins
On August 23, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held that a union may not file and fund a lawsuit claiming violations of federal or state wage and hour laws (or other similar employment laws) on behalf of…

eUpdate

September 07, 2011
NLRB rejects Virginia Mason Hospital’s effort to duck bargaining regarding flu prevention policies

Author: Carson Glickman-Flora
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board issued a key decision limiting employers ability to dodge collective bargaining regarding issues that they claim are "at the heart of entrepreneurial control" or related to its….