Just last week, we reported on the nomination of Attorney Marvin Kaplan to the 4th seat on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), leaving only one vacancy on the 5-member Board entrusted with enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Just this week, President Trump closed that gap completely with the formal nomination of…
Read More »The Department of Labor under new Secretary Alex Acosta is inviting comments from businesses and other groups and individuals on the issue of the department overtime rule. Under the previous administration, the overtime threshold was more than doubled to $47,476, but enjoined by the court in November. Earlier this week, DOL sent a Request for…
Read More »The Trump administration may be targeting and undoing a number of the more egregious Obama-era rules relating the workplace, but that doesn’t mean Congress isn’t going to take a shot at some as well. Just yesterday, the House Education and Workforce Committee marked up a couple of labor-related bills that will undo different Obama administration…
Read More »There continues to be much debate around the country about the wisdom of increasing minimum wages and how big an increase can be before it becomes detrimental to the local economy and the very workers the increase is supposed to help. Well, two recent studies of the impact on Seattle employees of the Seattle minimum…
Read More »The latest fad being foisted upon small business retailers and fast food employers – predictive scheduling – continues to spread to new areas around the country. The state of Oregon is now seriously entertaining enacting a law that would dictate how and when small businesses could schedule their employees to work. The Oregon Senate last…
Read More »The democrat-controlled New Jersey legislature this week sent two initiatives to republican lame duck Governor Chris Christie, term-limited out of office this year after two terms. AB3480, which would ban employers from inquiring into a job applicant salary history, was approved by the Senate earlier this week by a party-line vote of 30-9. AB 4927…
Read More »Well, the fact that the Philadelphia soda tax has been upheld by the Pennsylvania courts wasn’t enough to discourage the Illinois Retail Merchants Association from filing a court challenge to the new Cook County soda tax. The group filed a lawsuit asking for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction in Cook County Circuit…
Read More »An effort by the AFL-CIO to place a petition to repeal the Missouri Right to Work law was dealt a severe blow this week when the Cole County Circuit Court ruled the petition was unfair and insufficient and hence, would be misleading to the voters of the Show Me state. The judge questioned the validity…
Read More »The big news again this week from Dunkin’ competitors would seem to be news of Tim Horton franchisees being fed up with some of the actions of their franchisor, Restaurant Brands International, which bought the chain back in 2014. The Great White North Franchisee Association (GWNFA), which was recently formed to represent the interests of…
Read More »It has been over seven months since Donald Trump was elected President and during that time, we have watched the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) continue its pro-union, anti-business march, knowing all the while that gradual but steady change would come with the new administration. Well this week, another phase of that change took place…
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