In today’s news and commentary, home health aides secure preliminary approval on a historic settlement and the NLRB upholds a finding that Amazon violated federal labor law. 

On Wednesday of last week, US Magistrate Judge Lara K. Eshkenazi preliminarily approved a settlement between New York home health aides and fiscal intermediary Public Partnerships regarding a wage theft class action lawsuit filed in April of 2025. As part of the settlement, Public Partnerships will pay $162 million into a fund that over 200,000 workers could seek compensation from. The wage disputes arose shortly after Public Partnerships assumed the role of New York’s fiscal intermediary, replacing a host of other organizations. Described as a “haphazard transition” with “a dizzying array of technical problems,” many workers reported issues inputting their hours and receiving accurate pay. The settlement is one of the largest in state history and expected to receive final approval in November. 

On Thursday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) upheld a lower court’s finding that Amazon violated federal labor law in 2021 and 2022 when the company interrogated and threatened workers during organizing campaigns in Staten Island, New York. The order, which agreed with the lower court’s conclusion that Amazon violated federal labor law nearly two dozen times in 2021 and 2022, compels Amazon to issue backpay to an employee who was sent home during the organizing efforts. Amazon is currently challenging a different agency order to bargain with a branch of the union in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.