Way back in 2018, we wrote about the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in Janus, which held that compelling public sector employees to pay “fair share fees” to unions violates the First Amendment. As a refresher, a fair share fee is a fee that non-union members must pay to the union to…

On February 21, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a decision finding that Home Depot violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (“Act”) by using Home Depot’s dress code to require an employee to remove the acronym “BLM,” an initialism for “Black Lives Matter,” from the Employee’s work uniform. The decision…

On January 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a long-awaited Final Rule that addresses when a worker is properly classified as an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (the “FLSA”).  Under its new Rule, independent contractors are characterized as those workers who, as a matter of economic reality, are not…

If you are gearing up for union negotiations in 2024, do not miss the opportunity to review current and past practices that may not have been incorporated into expiring collective bargaining agreements.  Trust me, it will be worth the effort to dig up and review all of the side letters, settlements and memoranda of agreement…

We wrote in August about major updates to the Davis-Bacon regulations issued by the Department of Labor.  The Final Rule updating those regulations became effective on October 23, 2023.  In the time since, contractors have been working to ensure compliance with the new requirements, including, among other things, seeking approval from the DOL before taking…

On August 31, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision in Miller Plastic Products, Inc. that will make it easier for a single worker’s action to be considered “concerted” under the National Labor Relations Act. In a 3-1 decision, the Board overruled its 2019 decision in Alstate Maintenance, which had narrowed the circumstances in which the…

On August 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board reversed precedent on the issue of work rules that proscribe employee personal conduct. In Stericycle, the Board reversed and remanded an ALJ’s decision that found the employer violated Section 8(a)(1) by maintaining work rules addressing personal conduct, conflict of interest, and confidentiality of harassment complaints. In…