Organized labor’s honeymoon with the Biden administration seemingly continues unabated as earlier this month, the Department of Labor (DOL) rescinded a Trump-era rule requiring financial transparency on the part of labor unions. The union financial disclosure rule became effective on April 6, 2020 and required unions with more than $250,000 in annual receipts to fill…
Read More »The District Court for the District of Southern California has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the validity of California’s AB5 law. The challenge, which was filed by the International Franchise Association (IFA) along with DDIFO, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) and the Supercuts Franchisee Association (SFA) back in November 2020, centered around California‘s ABC…
Read More »New York Governor Kathy Hochul has again extended the designation of COVID-19 as a “highly contagious communicable disease” and thereby kept the provisions of the Health and Essential Rights Act (HERO Act) in full force and effect. The designation, now extended to February 15, triggers obligations for New York employers to keep their airborne infectious…
Read More »New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy this week signed into law A6246 / S4295, legislation that was passed on the last day of the prior session. Currently, the law applies only to hotel owners, but the possibility that it could be replicated for other industries (including QSRs) is concerning. The law provides significant restrictions on the…
Read More »Regrettably, it seems the broad subject of unionization and what organized labor is doing is becoming a regular feature in Small Regular No Sugar! of late. This week, two more Starbucks stores in the Boston area (now totaling 4 in Boston market) as well as a store in Tallahassee Florida filed for union representation elections…
Read More »Inflation is showing no signs of letting up anytime soon as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.5 percent from November to December 2021. Despite the fact that average hourly earnings for all employees increased 0.1 percent over the same time period, the record inflation rate over…
Read More »Aside from its growing union issues, Starbucks this week reversed course on its own previously announced employee vaccine-or-test mandate after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Biden administration vaccine-or-test mandate. Starbucks told employees this week that the company will no longer require its US workers to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing as it had…
Read More »Through our reporting in Small Regular No Sugar! our subscribers have read of the great work that the Coalition of Franchisee Associations (CFA) does on behalf of member franchisees across the country. With their diligent representation on issues of import to franchisees, CFA has proven its value time and again. Their work is critical to…
Read More »Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that the employer mandate imposed by the Biden administration exceeds the authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) putting an end to the vax or test mandate. The decision comes just days after the mandate technically took effect on January 4, although the…
Read More »We may collectively be looking past the current unionizing troubles befalling Starbucks, but franchisees who do, do so at their own peril! Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certified union representation for the second Starbucks store in the Buffalo market. The union effort that ended on December 8 was originally reported to have…
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