If a company has a union, does the employer have to negotiate with the union before changing or implementing safety policies?  Yes. A company violated labor law when it unilaterally implemented a policy at a manufacturing facility that required workers to wear flame-resistant clothing at all times. Prior to the implementation of that policy, employees did not have…

The Department of Labor announced on October 17, 2018 two new web pages intended to assist both businesses and workers on compliance with the laws enforced by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, and Child Labor Laws. These web pages, developed in response to employer…

Imagine an employer giving a unionized workforce an ultimatum for concessions, then imposing cuts when the local union balked. That is what happened, and the employer is the AFL-CIO. Employees of the AFL-CIO say the labor group is not practicing what it preaches, and they’re prepared to picket over it. About 50 janitors, drivers, secretaries, and accountants at the union’s…

Faced with a Trump administration proposal that could ban the government from deducting union dues from members’ pay, the largest U.S. home health care union is trying an unusual workaround:  it’s issuing workers debit card they can use to access their paycheck – minus union dues. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that…

UNITE-HERE claims to have taken thousands of employees out on strike against Marriott properties mainly because of Marriott’s Go Green program which encourages guests to re-use bath towels and to forego having rooms cleaned daily. While the union stated that after months of negotiations, multiple issues remain, their principal claim in the press release is that “the employer failed to make…

The National Labor Relations Board recently proposed a rule that dictates that two entities will be joint employers only if each exercises substantial direct and immediate control over employees.  The NLRB seeks to establish a stricter joint employer standard by regulation. Doing so would add more permanence to the joint employer standard than interpreting it…