Edward Nasser is a student at Harvard Law School.
Yesterday in Whole Foods Market, Inc. v. N.L.R.B., the Second Circuit upheld an NLRB ruling that an employer’s blanket policy prohibiting recordings in the workplace violated its employees’ rights to engage in protected concerted activities. The Second Circuit agreed with the Board majority that there was enough from previous NLRB cases to support that workers’ rights could be vindicated with recordings and that the broad rules could hinder their ability to gather evidence.
President Donald Trump has yet to nominate anyone for the two vacant seats on the National Labor Relations Board, though he did elevate the lone Republican, Philip Miscimarra, to Chairman. That position allows Mr. Miscimarra to slow the issuance of agency decisions, resulting in 40% fewer cases decided by the Board in the first half of this year as compared to 2016, reports the Wall Street Journal. Bloomberg has a list of the final candidates under consideration, all of which are expected to be much friendlier to employer interests than those nominated under President Obama.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder’s firm released its report and recommendations to Uber following allegations of widespread sexual harassment and a toxic culture. Business Insider and the New York Times offer good summaries of the report. CEO Travis Kalanick announced he would take a leave of absence following the report, an extraordinarily rare move for a sitting CEO.
Human Rights Watch announced today that workers building venues in Russia for the country to host the 2018 World Cup have been exploited and abused. The New York Times has a good summary of the report. FIFA, the organization that chooses host sites and oversees the World Cup, has repeatedly come under fire for ignoring such exploitation in connection with the tournament.
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.