This morning the White House plans to announce a proposal to merge the Departments of Labor and Education. The idea is just the latest iteration of a decades-long conservative effort to downsize the federal government, but an early step in a broader restructu... More »
Some of the hottest questions in labor policy over the past few years have been: how big is the “gig economy” or the “fissured workplace” or the “on-demand sector”? The Bureau of Labor Statistics gave its surprising answer to this question last week: smaller... More »
The Department of Labor is currently investigating several worker centers to determine whether they constitute “labor organizations” under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). Earlier this year, Reps Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) (chairwoman of ... More »
The New Yorker reported last night that four women have accused New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman of sexual misconduct and physical abuse, including one woman who previously worked closely with his office. Schneiderman, who positioned himself as a ch... More »
Thousands of teachers from over thirty school districts rallied at the Colorado Capitol on Friday, calling for increased school funding as part of the #RedForEd movement. The Colorado Education Association, the federation of teachers’ unions in the state, exp... 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 »
On Monday, President Trump’s administration “proposed deep spending cuts” in the U.S. Labor Department’s budget for the second consecutive year. The administration requested a 21% budget reduction over current levels for fiscal year 20... 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 »
Public Citizen filed a lawsuit on January 19th asking Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to turn over copies of forms employers were required to file with the government. In 2017, for the first time, OSHA required compani... More »
NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb may be seeking to reorganize the NLRB’s field offices, Bloomberg reported yesterday. His proposal involves consolidating regional offices and placing at the top of each an official who would report directly to him. This ... More »
n January 11, 2018, Jon Nash of Emory University School of Law and I submitted comments to the Department of Labor (“DOL”) on its proposed regulation regarding the freedom of employers that pay direct cash wages of at least the Federal minimum wage and do not... More »
The Department of Labor released new guidance that makes it easier for companies to hire unpaid interns. As we discussed here, the dividing line between ‘employee’ and ‘intern’ has been contested. Finding Obama-era DOL guidance too strict, the Second Circuit... More »