As expected, the New York City Council voted yesterday to cap the number of Ubers allowed to drive within the city, in a win for taxi drivers, who had complained of deflated incomes. The move came despite opposition from the NAACP and other civil rights organi... More »
The Massachusetts legislature this week passed a new bill that would limit the use of noncompete clauses in that state. The new law, which still must be signed by Republican Governor Charlie Baker, would allow employers to prevent their workers from moving to ... More »
The Eleventh Circuit revived a suit brought by the NAACP against the state of Alabama for its law pre-empting Birmingham’s minimum wage hike. The NAACP argued that the Alabama law intentionally discriminated against black workers, who would have benefitted dis... More »
The BBC has made progress in closing the wage gap between its male and female stars, but its dozen highest-paid stars continue to be all men. An enormous pay disparity at the network was revealed last year, causing outrage among many employees and members of t... More »
The Supreme Court struck a major blow to public sector unions yesterday. The Janus ruling held that the First Amendment prohibits states from requiring non-union members to pay so-called “agency fees” to the union that represents them. Sharon Block and Ben Sac... More »
On Tuesday, Washington governor Jay Inslee signed an executive order intended to mitigate the fallout from the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Epic Systems. In the order, the governor instructs state agencies to contract only with businesses who can demonst... More »
The Economist yesterday questioned the wisdom of the NFL’s new national anthem policy and cited Professor Sachs’ recent piece arguing that the policy change was an illegal violation of federal labor law and possibly the First Amendment. The Economi... More »
On May 11, the Ninth Circuit dealt a blow to a Seattle city ordinance permitting Lyft and Uber drivers to unionize. However, the court’s ruling was not entirely unfavorable for “gig economy” workers. Lyft and Uber, along with other affected groups, challenged ... More »
A group of MIT engineers have managed to replace human chefs with robots, and a new restaurant in Boston will now operate with a fully robotic kitchen. The restaurant, named Spyce, will serve mostly vegetarian meals under the supervision of Michelin-starred ch... More »
The Ninth Circuit struck down on Friday a Seattle ordinance that purported to give Lyft and Uber drivers the right to unionize. The panel said that Washington had not authorized the law specifically enough, but upheld the trial court’s ruling that Seattl... More »
The New York Times reported on a 2013 trip to Costa Rica by the Washington NFL team, where cheerleaders were forced into uncomfortable sexual situations with male sponsors. According to the report, the team invited sponsors to attend a photo shoot where the wo... More »
Harvard University graduate students began voting Wednesday on whether to unionize, following the successful unionization efforts at Columbia University, New York University, and other schools. This is the second union election in a years-long effort to unioni... More »