Justice Gorsuch’s silence during the Janus oral argument generated considerable buzz. Wishful (yet tentative) commentators hoped the silence was a sign that the new Justice’s originalism would lead him to uphold Abood. To be sure, Justice Thomas, the Court’s... More »
“[S]peech on public issues occupies the highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values, and is entitled to special protection.” Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. 443, 452 (2011) (citation omitted). Nearly every brief filed in Janus v. AFSCME advocating for t... More »
One week last December, President Trump’s NLRB reversed five significant Board precedents. It was the end of Board Chairman Phil Miscimarra’s term, and the Trump Administration had taken over less than a year before. The reversals themselves weren’t surprisi... More »
The Supreme Court holds this morning in Murphy Oil that class and collective action bars in arbitration agreements are enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and are not incompatible with the NLRA. The majority opinion by Justice Gorsuch is notab... More »
Last year’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act gave some gig workers — usually classified as independent contractors — a tax cut. But the most vexing tax challenges facing these workers are not high rates but convoluted rules and tremendous compliance obstacles that leave... More »
A policy rider in the spending bill passed last night bars employers from skimming workers’ tips. As we noted earlier this week, Democrats sought the rider after controversy engulfed the Department of Labor’s effort to repeal an Obama Era tip regulation. The... More »
“Organized labor, once seen as fractured and feckless in the Trump era, gave the Democrat Conor Lamb his edge in Pennsylvania,” says a New York Times analysis of last night’s special election. A Politico analysis also noted Lamb’s strong support from unions, ... More »
Trump officially announced new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum yesterday, with industry workers standing on as he signed the proclamation. As many have reported, the tariffs are billed as a measure to protect American manufacturing workers, but the ste... More »
The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Monday in Janus. Analyses report that, as expected, there were pointed questions for AFSCME and Illinois by Justices Alito and Kennedy; the four liberal justices took every opportunity to highlight the potential effect... More »
The Supreme Court has posted the transcript of this morning’s oral argument in Janus. Notably, Justice Gorsuch, expected to be the deciding vote, did not speak during the argument. We’ll have more coverage of the oral argument later this week. More »
In advance of Monday’s oral argument in Janus, Bloomberg and the New York Times consider what might become of public sector unions if Abood is overruled. In These Times has a long feature on the advocacy groups who are funding not only Janus but also oth... More »
In the first gig economy worker classification case to go to trial, a federal magistrate judge ruled yesterday that a GrubHub worker was an independent contractor under California law. The decision could have ramifications in suits against other gig companies... More »