The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a pair of cases on whether the Affordable Care Act can mandate that corporations provide insurance coverage for contraceptives for their employees despite religious objections of the corporation’s owners. As Adam Liptak of the New York Times reports, the Third and Tenth Circuits have split on the issue. Oral arguments are expected for March with a decision issued by June.
The Editorial Board of the New York Times is also chiming in on the case. The Editorial Board argues the contraceptives mandate doesn’t run afoul of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the law cited by corporate religious objectors. The statute “bars the federal government from taking actions that ‘substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion’ unless the action advances a compelling government interest and is the ‘least restrictive means’ of achieving it.”
Pope Francis has issued an apostolic exhortation entitled “Evangelii Gaudium” (the Joy of the Gospel) — a papal pronouncement with less weight than an encyclical. The exhortation echoes longstanding church concerns about poverty and inequality. Among other things, the Washington Post notes the exhortation sharply criticizes “trickle-down” economics as “expresses[ing] a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power . . . .”
City voters in Seatac have approved the highest municipal wage in the nation—$15/hr—by a narrow margin. If the vote survives recount efforts, it will provide a boon to thousands airport workers employed in this small city south of Seattle: Seatac is home to the Seattle-Tacoma International airport. The New York Times notes that labor unions are praising the result as a call to action on the issue of worker wages.
In other minimum wage news, the County Council of Montgomery Maryland has voted to raise the wages of workers to $11.50/hr by 2017. As the Washington Post reports, the law will affect employees doing work in the county for companies “operating and doing business in the county.” The vote marks a reversal of the council’s previous position that wages should be addressed at the state and federal level.
The New York Times is reporting that creditors in the Detroit bankruptcy have filed a motion to create a committee to retain a “leading art intermediary” to value the City’s world-class art collection in anticipation of a possible sale. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the creditor group, which includes City retirees and labor unions, argues that the art collection has no connection with Detroit’s provision of core services and should be sold to maximize creditor recovery.
Daily News & Commentary
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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 […]
July 7
LA economy deals with fallout from ICE raids; a new appeal challenges the NCAA antitrust settlement; and the EPA places dissenting employees on leave.
July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.