Melinda Meng is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News and Commentary, immigrant truckers bring suit over DOT’s commercial license ban, the NLRB calls for a rerun election at a Hormel subsidiary, and NTEU calls for a federal district judge to review CFPB job cuts.
On Wednesday, 19 immigrant truckers filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida claiming that the Department of Transportation’s rule barring 200,000 foreign truck drivers from holding commercial licenses violates the Administrative Procedure Act and equal protection under the Fifth Amendment. The DOT regulation, which took effect on March 16, 2026, prevents immigrants with asylum, refugee, or deferred action status from obtaining commercial drivers licenses, limiting eligibility to foreign nationals with seasonal work visas of E-2 nonimmigrant status. The suit is also claiming that the state of Florida’s decision to implement an indefinite pause on issuing or renewing non-domiciled commercial drivers licenses violates due process and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.
On Thursday, a divided National Labor Relations Board rejected a request from a United Food and Commercial Workers affiliate to preserve its December 2024 victory at Dold Foods LLC. UFCW had won its election at the Wichita-based facility by a 277-266 margin, but the company objected to the results on the grounds that barriers to non-English-speaking employees prevented their full participation in the election. The NLRB St. Louis Regional Director held that the lack of translators and the printing of ballots in English only destroyed the laboratory conditions necessary for employees to exercise their free choice on the union question. Member David Prouty, the NLRB’s sole Democrat, dissented from the decision, finding that the Regional Director erred in using the wrong legal standard and insufficient evidence to sustain the employer’s objections and order a new vote.
On Friday, the National Treasury Employees Union filed a brief with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia asking for a federal district judge in Washington to review the CFPB’s new plan to eliminate half of its remaining staff. The Trump administration is pushing an expedited timeline for these job cuts, but the NTEU argues that the CFPB’s year-long delay in issuing its subsequent reduction-in-force plan demonstrates a lack of urgency warranting extraordinary relief from the Court. Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the US District Court for the District of Columbia had issued a preliminary injunction blocking an attempt to cut 90% of the agency’s staff, after which the CFPB under acting Director Rusell Vought requested that the DC Circuit issue a 45-day remand for Judge Jackson to reconsider her injunction. The union agreed that Judge Jackson should review the reduction-in-force plan before the appellate judges, but maintained that the Trump administration lacked any valid justification for expediting job cuts. The agency currently has fewer than 1,200 employees remaining, compared to the 1,700 that were authorized for fiscal year 2025.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 31
Legislators move to end mandatory arbitration in employment contracts; NYC tip laws result in greater pay for delivery workers; women's college basketball players seek to unionize.
July 30
Supreme Court denies Cemex's bid to pause bargaining order; employers remain exposed to Title VII suits over English-only rules; Texas judge declines to enjoin NLRB proceeding despite unconstitutional removal protections.
July 29
NYC public defender strikes spread to the Bronx; NLRB drops challenge to New York labor law after Amazon wins its case; new data shows appointments of women and minorities to S&P 500 boards at lowest level in a decade.
July 28
DOJ drops charges against SEIU California president; Massachusetts nurses file ULP against hospital; Democratic lawmakers look to remove damage caps in employment discrimination cases
July 27
NY Port Authority proceeds to trial on PUMP Act case; First Circuit denies stay in order vacating H-1B visa fee; DC Circuit panel denies First Amendment claim over disclosure of confidential emails in allegation of prison's COVID-19 mismanagement.
July 24
EEOC drops request for UPenn's Jewish staff; Starbucks defeats mail-in ballots; and Mamdani appoints Lina Khan.