July 3rd 2022
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On February 11, 2022, the Southern District Court of New York preserved just cause protections for fast food workers in Restaurant Law Center v. City of New York. This decision lands a significant blow to the norm of at-will employment and is a boon to just cause...
The New York Times published an exposé on Kroger, the U.S.’s largest supermarket chain and the fourth-largest employer in the Fortune 500, whose tremendous financial success during the pandemic has not translated into improved wages and working conditions for many...
In a report published yesterday, researchers at the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that Massachusetts rideshare drivers could earn well below the federal and state minimum wage under a proposed state ballot initiative pushed by ride-hailing giants Uber and...
A brutal heat wave is endangering farmworkers and construction workers, as well as people living in poverty and confronting housing insecurity, ABC News and the New York Times report. Many workers in these sectors are undocumented, which makes them especially...
Echoing Marx, it was Mark Fisher who likened capitalism’s core nature to that of an “abstract parasite, an insatiable vampire and zombie-maker… [where] the living flesh it converts into dead labour is ours, and the zombies it makes are us.” For Fisher, the figure...
In a recent OnLabor post, Michael Migiel-Schwartz examined the growing movement to abolish at-will employment, the distinctly U.S. employment law doctrine that permits employers to terminate employees for no reason at all with no prior notice. Several months ago,...
In December New York City passed a law granting its 67,000 fast food workers “just cause” protections. The law, taking effect in July, mandates that the city’s fast food workers can no longer be fired “at will.” That New York’s fast food workers will enjoy greater...
At the early outset of his administration, President Biden—in keeping with his pledge to be “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen”—fired the National Labor Relation Board’s general counsel, Peter Robb, after Robb—a pro-management Trump appointee and now...
Despite a membership drop across the United States from pandemic job loss, unions have gained an increased share of workers compared to the nationwide job market. California offers a specific case study. California unions have been able to retain their workers...
Workers at the New Yorker union have won their fight for a just cause provision. For the first time in the magazine’s 95 year history, its workers will not be at-will employees, and have a guarantee that they will only be disciplined or fired for cause. While...
Yesterday marked an eventful occasion for workers’ rights advocates in Sacramento, as California Governor Gavin Newsom moved on a number of major employment rights bills at his desk. Among other measures, Newsom signed legislation to require businesses of...
At-will employment is out of favor. In recent polling from Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Data for Progress, and the Omidyar Network, a striking 68% of respondents said that employers should be limited in their discretion to fire workers, rejecting the default rule of...