News & Commentary

July 26, 2016

Edward Nasser

Edward Nasser is a student at Harvard Law School.

WeWork, a New York based startup that provides shared workspace and services to its clients, continues to be plagued by labor issues. The company was highlighted by the New York Times in May for its controversial practice of requiring employees to sign arbitration agreements and class action waivers. The NLRB is now asking a federal court to compel the company to change these policies.

On the economy, the Wall Street Journal notes that over the past decade, only a small group of Americans have been able to to land jobs with both good pay and strong wage growth. Those jobs are increasingly going to workers with at least a four-year degree, potentially widening the gap between incomes of more and less highly educated workers.

Tracy A. Miller of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C. offers a helpful explainer on the DOL’s new overtime rule at JD Supra. The rule, which raises the minimum salary level for overtime exempt executive, administrative, professional, and computer professional workers, will take effect Dec. 1, 2016.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, under fire from both the left and the right, has become politically toxic, but Eduardo Porter of the New York Times argues that dropping it might be a bad idea. The agreement shows more concern for interests of workers than past agreements, though enforcement of those provisions will largely depend on the political will of the United States.

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