The Obama administration will be extending federal minimum wage and overtime laws to the nation’s two million home health-care workers. Previously, in Long Island Care at Home, Ltd. v. Coke (2007), the Supreme Court held that such workers were providers of “companionship services,” a group exempt from FLSA minimum wage and overtime protections. Detailed coverage provided by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins Jr. criticizes the efforts of the UAW to unionize Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, TN plant. He questions the UAW’s claim that a German-style works council could only supplement an already embedded union under federal labor law, and objects to the UAW’s effort to gain recognition based on a card check.
In health-care news, the Wall Street Journal reports that Walgreen Co. will be the next major employer to revise its medical benefits program. Citing rising costs and new compliance-related expenses, Walgreen Co. is moving from administering a traditional health plan to providing subsidies for their 160,000 employees to purchase coverage in a private insurance exchange.
With the population of New York homeless shelters at an all time high, the New York Times offers a poignant portrait of the difficulties facing the city’s employed homeless population. Affordable housing advocates argue the fact that 28 percent of families in shelters have at least one wage-earner evidences both a widening gap between wages and rent and a shortage of subsidized housing.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.
July 4
The DOL scraps a Biden-era proposed rule to end subminimum wages for disabled workers; millions will lose access to Medicaid and SNAP due to new proof of work requirements; and states step up in the noncompete policy space.
July 3
California compromises with unions on housing; 11th Circuit rules against transgender teacher; Harvard removes hundreds from grad student union.
July 2
Block, Nanda, and Nayak argue that the NLRA is under attack, harming democracy; the EEOC files a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by former EEOC Commissioner Jocelyn Samuels; and SEIU Local 1000 strikes an agreement with the State of California to delay the state's return-to-office executive order for state workers.
July 1
In today’s news and commentary, the Department of Labor proposes to roll back minimum wage and overtime protections for home care workers, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by public defenders over a union’s Gaza statements, and Philadelphia’s largest municipal union is on strike for first time in nearly 40 years. On Monday, the U.S. […]
June 30
Antidiscrimination scholars question McDonnell Douglas, George Washington University Hospital bargained in bad faith, and NY regulators defend LPA dispensary law.