Despite months of intra-party fighting among different factions within the democratic membership, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a six-year phased increase in the federal minimum wage yesterday. The final vote of 233-199 in favor of more than doubling the current minimum of $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2025 came after a concerted effort…
Read More »One could argue that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been ground zero on a broad array of issues under President Trump as the administration tries to scale back anti-business regulations. And to drive that point home, this past week, the agency issued a ruling in a 3-1 decision in the Johnson Controls, Inc.…
Read More »In a separate case decided a couple of weeks ago, the agency validated an employer removing non-employee union organizers from public areas of their property. Historically, employers have been able to keep non-employee organizers off their property with two significant exceptions – they could not discriminate (if one non-employee group can be there, then so…
Read More »The comment period on the Department of Labor joint-employer proposal came to a close earlier this week with more than 12,500 public comments having been submitted. As drafted, DOL’s proposed joint employer regulation employs a new four-part test to determine joint employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Those four components include the…
Read More »The Attorneys General of 16 states around the nation submitted a letter on Tuesday commenting on the proposed new Department of Labor rule on the overtime exemption. You will recall that DOL under former President Obama more than doubled the overtime exemption to $47,476 (from $23,660), although that increase was ultimately thrown out by the…
Read More »The Protecting the Right to Organize Act, filed by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) has moved at breakneck speed in the US House over the past two weeks. The bill, which was filed by Chairman Scott and a host of co-sponsors in the House on May 3rd, was heard by the…
Read More »Employees of the AFL-CIO, represented by the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 2, have been embroiled in a battle with their employer over a union contract for months now. Staff at the Washington headquarters of “big labor” a few weeks ago filed an unfair labor practice against the union. A plethora of other…
Read More »That same SEIU, which gave us the Fight for $15, has pushed for unionizing within the QSR industry, has orchestrated many of the fast food work stoppages we’ve seen at different times around the country and is behind the NYC just cause employment proposal (discussed above) may be soon in for a taste of its…
Read More »Less than a year after employees at one unit of a QSR chain in Portland Oregon voted to unionize, a third store in the Burgerville franchise won NLRB approval in December as a separate bargaining unit. Three of the brand’s 42 stores across the Pacific Northwest are now organized as micro-unions and recognized by the…
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Over the last decade, our firm has represented hundreds of Dunkin’ franchisees who have expanded their networks through the purchase of existing restaurants. The vast majority of these acquisitions are transacted as purchases of tangible (e.g. furniture, fixtures, and equipment) and intangible (e.g. telephone numbers) assets, as opposed to the purchase of the stock or…
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