As if to buttress Judge Leon’s statement, lame-duck US Attorney General Eric Holder has expanded the definitions contained in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by including discrimination against transgender individuals as a violation of the federal law. Technically, Holder reversed an earlier decision by the Department of Justice that Title VII…
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The National Labor Relations Board this week took what their general counsel has been threatening for the past few months, filing 13 complaints against McDonald’s franchise owners – and naming McDonalds Corporation as a co-defendant in the action. The charges allege some 78 violations of employee rights to organize and collectively bargain, but most importantly,…
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It was designed as a neutral agency that would ensure fair application of the nation’s labor laws, but the new focus of the National Labor Relations Board seems to be anything but. Last week, in the first of a couple of egregious rulings, the agency decided by a 3 – 2 vote in a case…
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One day after their email ruling, the NLRB issued another doozy – this one, their final ruling on the “ambush” or “quickie” election, long sought by organized labor. The new rule will effectively reduce, rather significantly, the amount of time an employer has to prepare for a union election. The new rule provides that businesses…
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If you’re wondering what the real rationale might be behind some of these outrageous rulings, especially the “joint-employer” determination threatened by the NLRB General Counsel Robert Griffin, we may have just the vehicle for you. We noted in a news article somewhere this week that Griffin recently gave a keynote luncheon address, appropriately titled “Zealous…
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In neighboring Indiana, the state Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the state right to work law, dealing a blow to organized labor, which had strongly opposed the law when it was passed in 2012. Generally, Right to Work laws prohibit an employer from requiring union membership or requiring the payment of any monies (including union…
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Last year, in a unanimous opinion, the US Supreme Court struck down President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board as unconstitutional because the Senate was not in recess at the time (NLRB v Noel Canning). Subsequently, an agreement was reached between the President and the leadership in the US Senate that would…
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In a recent decision that may shock private property advocates throughout the country, the Massachusetts Supreme Court released its decision in the case of Glovsky v Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Inc. in which they essentially determined that private property would qualify as public space for the purpose of access in those cases where the private retail…
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Coming just months after the egregious “joint-employer” ruling by the NLRB General Counsel, the agency has again come down on the side of enhancing labor’s unionizing capabilities at the expense of business. Our friends in the Hartford office of Murtha Cullina advised us that last week the National Labor Relations Board ruled that FedEx Home…
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As if these stories are all somehow related, class action lawsuits against Home Depot are one thing, but yesterday, we learned of a proposed class action suit filed in Pennsylvania federal court last week alleging that a Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee incorrectly categorized several assistant managers as overtime-exempt employees. The proposed class, consisting of at least…
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