For the past couple of months, the hope existed that litigation pending in a Los Angeles Superior Court would ultimately be dismissed after the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) recommended coffee retailers be exempted from California Proposition 65 requirements to include a cancer warning on coffee. Public comments included an endorsement of…
Read More »Back in the summer months, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) released proposed revisions to the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act overtime exemptions (currently set at $250 per week or $13,000 per year). The proposal recommended increasing the state overtime exemption threshold in each of the next three years with the first increase in…
Read More »Many of the nation’s union leaders are regularly admonishing businessmen and women to be more considerate of and generous to their employees. Regardless of how it may impact the viability of the business, unions argue that employees deserve more pay, more lenient work rules and greater benefits from their employer – that is, unless they…
Read More »That slogan may now apply to McDonald’s and Jack In The Box franchisees in equal measure. McDonald’s franchise owners, who do not yet enjoy the strength, solidarity and representation of an independent franchisee association, are now taking a much closer look at the wisdom of joining together as one! Franchisees in the system of the…
Read More »There will be more illustrations of the tremendous benefits of independent franchisee associations in another 2 weeks at the Coalition of Franchisee Associations (CFA) inaugural legal symposium on Wednesday, October 24 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place. Attendees will hear from top franchisee attorneys Robert Zarco with Zarco, Einhorn, Salkowski & Brito, P.A.; Ron Gardner…
Read More »Starbucks Corporation has joined the chorus of companies increasing their employee benefits program in some manner or other in the face of a historically tight labor market. The Seattle-based company announced that it is expanding its child care coverage for employees and significantly subsidizing the benefit for its 180,000 employees. Under the new plan, employees…
Read More »This week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed legislation into law adding a third gender to birth certificates for individuals born in the Big Apple. The bill, as passed by the City Council last month, allows individuals to change the M or F gender designation on their New York City birth certificate to…
Read More »The voters approved it back in June by a margin of 56-44%, but members of the DC City Council have a different view of its cost/benefit. By a vote of 8-5, the council passed the first of 2 votes required to formally repeal the law which is slated to completely eliminate the tipped wage by…
Read More »Out in the “other Washington” (that would be the state), voters in November will be asked to prohibit local communities from imposing additional taxes on groceries including soda or other sugary beverages. If passed, Initiative 1634 would not affect Seattle’s tax on soda, syrups and sugary beverages of 1.75 cents per ounce, but it will…
Read More »Just a month ago, Illinois expanded the Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act to require employers to provide paid breaks for nursing mothers to express breast milk. The law now provides that a nursing mother who needs to express milk for her nursing infant child is entitled to a paid break “each time the employee…
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