Over at Law and Political Economy, Veena Dubal writes an important piece that raises concerns about Uber and Lyft’s suggestion that drivers in California form a “workers’ association.” Dubal worries that such an association would amount... More »
As has been widely reported, the U.S. Department of Labor issued an “opinion letter” yesterday concluding that an unnamed “virtual marketplace company” does not employ the workers who make the company viable. Instead, the letter finds t... More »
David Streitfeld has a great story in the NYT this morning about life as an Uber driver and the vast distance between what drivers earn and what investors will reap from the firm’s public offering. Drivers: $40,000 in a good year of full time work. Inves... More »
In an opinion released Tuesday, the ninth circuit has rejected a First Amendment challenge to exclusive representation. As Jared reports, the ninth circuit joins the eighth circuit in affirming the constitutional validity of exclusive representation, even in t... More »
Shortly before he died, Judge Stephen Reinhardt authored an en banc opinion for the ninth circuit in Rizo v. Yovino. The decision was groundbreaking, holding that employers could not justify salary differentials between men and women on the basis of prior sala... More »
In Janus, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment prohibits mandatory agency fees in the public sector. Although Janus had nothing to do with the constitutional status of exclusive representation, the majority’s opinion mentions exclusive represe... More »
The Supreme Court’s opinion in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira is rightly being heralded as a victory for workers. The Court, after all, has finally found a mandatory arbitration agreement that it won’t enforce. But it seems odd that this Supreme Court would hand w... More »
As Boomberg Law reports, the NLRB general counsel’s office has issued a new memorandum declaring that Uber may not bar employees from discussing, amongst themselves or with the media, an ongoing class action lawsuit. The memorandum is good news for emplo... More »
Last spring, we promised to share information about the project we’ve launched at Harvard Law School, “Rebalancing Economic and Political Power: A Clean Slate for the Future of Labor Law Reform.” On Labor Day, we laid out our vision for this ambitious project... More »
Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program is very pleased to announce the creation of a new academic fellowship to support the development of labor law scholars. The Wertheim Fund Labor Law Academic Fellow will receive approximately $50,000 per yea... More »
As divided as we have become as a country, we arrive at this Labor Day with a shared national understanding: both economic and political power are wildly out of balance, with dire consequences for the vast majority of Americans who find themselves on the losin... More »
In Janus, the Supreme Court held that agency fees amount to compelled speech that violates the First Amendment. As I’ve explained, the underlying premise of this theory is that agency fees are employees’ money that employees pay to a union. Because... More »