Gilbert Placeres is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News & Commentary, the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule is struck down and members of Cornell’s Graduate Student Union speak of repression on campus and the case of Momodou Taal.
On Friday, a Texas federal judge struck down the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule which would have expanded eligibility to four million new workers. The new rule would have made those who make less than $58,656 automatically eligible for overtime pay whenever they worked more than 40 hours. Judge Sean D. Jordan, of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, found the rule exceeded the agency’s authority because it effectively eliminated other overtime eligibility considerations, making it “a salary-only test.” “In sum, because the EAP [executive, administrative, and professional] Exemption requires that an employee’s status turn on duties—not salary—and because the 2024 Rule’s changes make salary predominate over duties for millions of employees, the changes exceed the Department’s authority to define and delimit the relevant terms,” he concluded.
In In These Times, Maximillian Alvarez interviews two members of Cornell’s Graduate Student Union, Jawuanna McAllister and Jenna Marvin, about the union’s role in issues of free speech and discipline on campus. Specifically, they discuss how the union sprung into action to defend Momodou Taal, a Ph.D candidate and international student who was suspended and faced possible loss of his immigration status after his participation in a protest pressuring the university to divest from Israel. McAllister and Marvin discuss how the administration has ignored a Memorandum of Agreement under which they are supposed to bargain over discipline that affects terms and conditions, how new president Laurence Kotlikoff is “spearheading… repressive tactics[,]” and how international students are targeted due to their vulnerability.
Daily News & Commentary
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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.
September 8
DC Circuit to rule on deference to NLRB, more vaccine exemption cases, Senate considers ban on forced arbitration for age discrimination claims.
September 7
Another weak jobs report, the Trump Administration's refusal to arbitrate with federal workers, and a district court judge's order on the constitutionality of the Laken-Riley Act.