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Maddie Chang is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News and Commentary, Seattle becomes the first city in the U.S. to ban caste discrimination, Tesla union’s NLRB charge says their Twitter account has been shadow banned, and New York’s state law protecting worker absences goes into effect.
On Tuesday, Seattle City Council voted 6-1 to outlaw discrimination based on caste, becoming the first U.S. city and first city outside of South Asia to do so. While caste discrimination became officially illegal in India in 1948, violence and discrimination against Dalits persists and affects South Asian communities in the U.S. According to research by Equality Labs, two out of three Dalits surveyed in the U.S. reported being treated unfairly in the workplace, and 25% of Dalits surveyed said they have faced physical or verbal abuse based on their caste. Some scholars and activists understand caste discrimination to already be covered under Title VII. As reported in the AP, Seattle’s ordinance follows a handful of U.S. universities who’ve banned caste discrimination, including against student workers.
As Travis and Greg noted last week, Tesla workers in Buffalo launched a campaign to form a union. The following day, dozens of workers were fired. In the union’s NLRB charge as detailed in Vice, the union also alleges that their Twitter account has been shadow banned. The shadow ban means that the union’s account is unsearchable and their content is less accessible to union members and the wider public. As noted in the NLRB charge, Elon Musk runs both Tesla and Twitter.
A New York state law goes into effect this week that protects workers’ abilities to take absences, as reported in Politico. Absences such as sickness, disability, pregnancy, caregiving obligations, domestic violence leave, jury duty, voting, and donating blood are all protected under this amendment to section 215 of the New York Labor Law. The amendment mandates that employers not “threaten, penalize, discriminate, or retaliate against employees for using absences protected under federal, state, or local law” and allows the New York State Department of Labor to impose civil penalties on employers who violate the policy.
Daily News & Commentary
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June 30
Explaining the turnaround in Starbucks-union negotiations; overtime rule implementation against Texas enjoined; California reforms PAGA
June 28
Gig driver classification deal reached in Massachusetts; Amazon drivers in Illinois strike over ULP; CEO pay accelerates.
June 27
The economy and immigration expected to play a central role in the upcoming presidential debate and Washington gets involved in AI regulation of the entertainment industry.
June 26
California judge fines companies for child labor violations; IATSE reaches tentative deal with studios; Texas judge likely to block Biden Administration's overtime rule
June 25
Supreme Court grants petition to hear a case on the scope of ADA standing; Texas federal district court blocks DOL rule expanding wage requirements for construction contractors, and South Korean Hyundai workers authorize strike.
June 24
Workers across the country face extreme heat exposure with minimal government protections; Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2 reaches a tentative agreement with Con Edison narrowly avoiding a strike; the Tenth Circuit grants a continuation of a freeze on a wage increase for some federal contractors