A piece at the New York Times profiles “disposable workers” in Europe. Hundreds of thousands of these workers are recruited by agencies each year to perform cheap manual labor and service jobs (e.g. picking vegetables or pouring concrete). The article details the low wage rates (the equivalent of just over $4 per hour) and the agencies’ total control over the labor supply chain (some transport and house the workers for the duration of the job). As employers increasingly rely on short-term contracts for labor, questions about labor protections and employment benefits arise.
Might technology companies have a responsibility to help workers whose livelihoods are threatened by machines? Maybe. Lolade Fadulu, writing for the Atlantic, makes the case. IBM had a Job Training Program that administrative professionals whose jobs were affected by IBM’s computer and software could take advantage of. Google announced a program that provides free training for small-business owners and job seekers to become familiar with Google’s business tools.
Today, the 9th Cir. Court of Appeals will hear oral argument in Rizo v. Yovino. Aileen Rizo challenges a ruling that her salary history could be used to justify paying her less than her male counterparts. The decision was based on precedent from a 1982 case that salary history can warrant gender-differentiated pay so long as the use of the history is reasonable and accomplishes a business purpose.
As light continues to be shed on the magnitude of the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace (we have covered the problem and ameliorating responses here, here, and here), the New York Times discusses the shortcomings of corporate sexual harassment training, and points to some alternative, more effective approaches.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 14
More circuits weigh in on two-step certification; Uber challengers Seattle deactivation ordinance.
July 13
APWU and USPS ratify a new contract, ICE barred from racial profiling in Los Angeles, and the fight continues over the dismantling of NIOSH
July 11
Regional director orders election without Board quorum; 9th Circuit pauses injunction on Executive Order; Driverless car legislation in Massachusetts
July 10
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds UW Health nurses are not covered by Wisconsin’s Labor Peace Act; a district judge denies the request to stay an injunction pending appeal; the NFLPA appeals an arbitration decision.
July 9
the Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass firings; Secretary of Agriculture suggests Medicaid recipients replace deported migrant farmworkers; DHS ends TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras
July 8
In today’s news and commentary, Apple wins at the Fifth Circuit against the NLRB, Florida enacts a noncompete-friendly law, and complications with the No Tax on Tips in the Big Beautiful Bill. Apple won an appeal overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company violated labor law by coercively questioning an employee […]