Emily Miller is a student at Harvard Law School.
With Andrew Puzder’s confirmation hearing on his nomination for Labor Secretary delayed indefinitely, the New York Times outlined some of the criticisms aimed at Puzder by labor groups as well as his own workers. Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants, has been an outspoken critic of workplace regulations, including minimum wage laws. Employees of CKE Restaurants, which has more than 70,000 workers, have reported that restaurants were understaffed, that employees were required to arrive early or work through breaks without pay, and that CKE placed caps on weekly pay regardless of hours work. Federal and state agencies have made similar findings of wage violations at CKE. Regardless, with a Republican-controlled Senate, Puzder’s chances for eventual nomination remain high.
The Wall Street Journal reports on a new study from the McKinsey Global Institute that found while it might not be time for workers to be completely replaced by technology, they will need to begin to work with automation. The study found that less than 5% of occupations can be fully replaced by technology, but 30% of tasks in approximately 60% of occupations can be automated, and projects that half of today’s occupational tasks may be automated by 2055.
Uncertainty regarding the timing and conditions of Britain’s departure from the European Union has fomented anxieties from employers, some of whom may be prepared to leave Britain. Even ahead of Brexit, some employers may already be taking action, with 39 of 233 financial services firms reporting that they planned to reduce staffing because of the Brexit vote, with more than half of those already taking steps to do so. Other employers, such as those in the hospitality, agriculture, and construction sectors, are concerned about facing a shortage of labor, as many of their workers immigrate from Southern and Eastern Europe, and may face curtailment of their employment rights under Brexit’s restrictive plans for immigration.
A recently passed Philadelphia law will prohibit employers within the City from asking job applicants about their wage history and protect those who refuse to answer such inquiries from retaliation. The law, which resembles Massachusetts’s “Act to Establish Pay Equity,” will go into effect July 2018, reports JD Supra.
Daily News & Commentary
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September 15
Unemployment claims rise; a federal court hands victory to government employees union; and employers fire workers over social media posts.
September 14
Workers at Boeing reject the company’s third contract proposal; NLRB Acting General Counsel William Cohen plans to sue New York over the state’s trigger bill; Air Canada flight attendants reject a tentative contract.
September 12
Zohran Mamdani calls on FIFA to end dynamic pricing for the World Cup; the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement opens a probe into Scale AI’s labor practices; and union members organize immigration defense trainings.
September 11
California rideshare deal advances; Boeing reaches tentative agreement with union; FTC scrutinizes healthcare noncompetes.
September 10
A federal judge denies a motion by the Trump Administration to dismiss a lawsuit led by the American Federation of Government Employees against President Trump for his mass layoffs of federal workers; the Supreme Court grants a stay on a federal district court order that originally barred ICE agents from questioning and detaining individuals based on their presence at a particular location, the type of work they do, their race or ethnicity, and their accent while speaking English or Spanish; and a hospital seeks to limit OSHA's ability to cite employers for failing to halt workplace violence without a specific regulation in place.
September 9
Ninth Circuit revives Trader Joe’s lawsuit against employee union; new bill aims to make striking workers eligible for benefits; university lecturer who praised Hitler gets another chance at First Amendment claims.