The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily blocked enforcement of the City of Seattle’s Ordinance 124968, which grants certain collective bargaining rights to independent contractors who drive for ride-sharing companies like Uber.
Articles Discussing Labor Law At The Federal Level, Including Issues Under The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
NLRB Finds Sports Team’s Electronic-Content Workers Employees Eligible To Unionize
The National Labor Relations Board has found the individuals who produce electronic content for viewing during professional basketball games are employees, rather than independent contractors. Minnesota Timberwolves Basketball, LP, 365 NLRB No. 124 (2017). The Board reversed the decision of an NLRB regional director and reinstated a representation petition filed by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. For more on this development, click here.
Bills in Congress Would Short-Cut ‘Quickie Election Rule,’ ‘Micro-Unit’ Reversals
With the recent confirmation of Marvin Kaplan to the National Labor Relations Board, the Obama (pro-union) Board is officially transitioning into a Trump (pro-business) Board. With that, Republicans hope, will come a change in the Board’s jurisprudence with respect to labor-friendly rulings by the Obama Board.
The Proof Is in the Pudding: How Lawyers Use Data to Vet Expert Witnesses
In this installment of the Big Data Initiative Podcast series, Dr. Zev Eigen, Global Director of Data Analytics with Littler, and Mark Torchiana, one of the founders of Courtroom Insight, discuss how technology enables lawyers to evaluate potential expert witnesses and other litigation professionals.
Grad-Student Unions One Year after Columbia University: More to Come or a Thing of the Past?
In August 2016, the National Labor Relations Board reversed longstanding precedent and ruled that students “who have a common-law employment relationship with their university are statutory employees under the [National Labor Relations] Act.” Columbia University, 364 NLRB No. 90 (Aug. 23, 2016). A year later, with President Donald Trump poised to seat a Republican-majority NLRB and with Philip Miscimarra, the author of the dissent in Columbia, now the NLRB Chairman, many expect the NLRB will reverse Columbia and hold that student assistants are not employees with a right to unionize under the NLRA.
No Weingarten Rights for Nurses in Peer Review Proceeding, Federal Appeals Court Rules
Nurses had no right to union representation in their hospital employer’s peer review committee proceedings, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled. Midwest Division – MMC, LLC, dba Menorah Medical Center v. NLRB, No. 15-1312 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 18, 2017). The Court, however, found the hospital violated the National Labor Relations Act by refusing to provide the union information it requested about the peer review committee and by maintaining an overbroad confidentiality rule.
Labor Law Lessons from Our Favorite Films: Dirty Dancing (Weingarten Rights – Nobody Puts Weingarten In The Corner)
As noted in our previous post about Dirty Dancing, as part of its investigation into thefts of guests’ property, the resort owner interviewed staff dance instructor, Johnny Castle (Johnny denies involvement in the burglaries), to determine whether he had an alibi for the evening when Moe Pressman’s wallet was stolen. We now know that Castle responded that he was in his room reading all evening. The resort owner’s grandson, Neil Kellerman, found this explanation implausible as there were no books in Castle’s room. However, the movie may have ended differently if Johnny had availed himself of rights afforded to him by the Supreme Court’s decision in NLRB v. Weingarten, 420 U.S. 251, 257 (1975), and its progeny.
Labor Law Lessons from Our Favorite Films: Dirty Dancing
There are films with clear labor law undertones, such as On The Waterfront and Norma Rae. The National Labor Relations Act and its teachings, however, lurk in other pop culture examples.
Top Five Labor Law Developments for July 2017
The U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed Marvin Kaplan to one of two vacant seats on the National Labor Relations Board on August 2, 2017. Kaplan was sworn in on August 10. Kaplan is a former counsel to the Commissioner of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. His confirmation leaves one vacant seat on the five-member Board. President Donald Trump has nominated William Emanuel, a management-side lawyer working in private practice, for the remaining seat.
Labor Law Update Summer 2017
Goldberg Segalla’s Labor Law Update keeps insurers, contractors, construction managers, developers, and other clients involved in construction informed about significant changes and cases involving New York’s “Scaffold Law” — Labor Law §§200, 240(1), and 241(6).
Breaking News: NLRB Chairman Miscimarra Declines Second Term
Reportedly citing personal reasons, National Labor Relations Board Chairman Philip Miscimarra has declined consideration for a second term on the Board. Miscimarra’s term expires on December 16, 2017, and the Board is facing a slashed budget.
D.C. Circuit Rejects Labor Board Joint Employer Determination
On August 4, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to enforce a holding by the National Labor Relations Board (Board) that the Cable News Network (CNN) was a joint employer.1 In the opinion, authored by Chief Judge Merrick Garland, the court found that the Board failed to adequately grapple with its conflicting precedent concerning what relationships constitute “joint employment.”
Senate Confirms Kaplan for Vacant Board Seat, Moving NLRB Closer to Pro-Business Majority
The United States Senate has narrowly confirmed former counsel to the Commissioner of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Marvin Kaplan to one of two vacant seats on the National Labor Relations Board. Kaplan’s confirmations leaves one vacant seat on the five-member Board.
Top Five Labor Law Developments for June 2017
In an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Department of Justice reversed itself and argued for the legality of mandatory arbitration agreement provisions waiving employees’ rights to bring class actions under the National Labor Relations Act.
Change is Coming: Management-Side Labor Attorney Emanuel Nominated to Labor Board
President Donald Trump has nominated management labor attorney William Emanuel to fill one of the two vacant seats on the five-member National Labor Relations Board.