The New York Times profiled the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s efforts to enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act’s protections of worker privacy in the face of the Affordable Care Act’s provisions encouraging employers to institute wellness programs for their employees. The EEOC has argued that the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits employers from forcing their employees to provide health information, prevents employers from requiring their workers from undergoing biometric screenings as a condition of providing health insurance. An uneasy alliance of employers, Republicans, and the White House have pressured the EEOC from walk back this stance in order to allow private employers greater ability to bring down health costs. The EEOC’s position has been rejected by federal courts in Wisconsin and Florida.
Disney employees who were laid off and replaced by foreign workers have sued the company and global staffing consultants retained by Disney for violating federal law governing H-1B visas, according to the New York Times. In order to obtain an H-1B visa to hire foreign workers, a company must declare to the Department of Labor that the decision to hire workers under the program “will not adversely affect the working conditions of U.S. workers similarly employed.”
Browning-Ferris filed an appeal with the D.C. Circuit of the NLRB’s recent decision that it violated federal labor law by refusing to negotiate with the Teamsters after the NLRB decided last year that the company was a joint employer of its contract employees, according to Reuters. The company’s attorney, Stuart Newman, said that his client “strongly believes that it has rights that require vindication.” The article noted that the upcoming case may test the mettle of D.C. Circuit, which many expect to tip toward liberal results as a consequence of President Obama’s appointments.
Perhaps surprisingly, The Economist endorsed the President’s proposal to provide wage insurance to workers, which would provide laid off workers with half of the shortfall between their previous job and their new job up to a ceiling of $10,000 for two years if the new job pays less than $50,000. The publication’s endorsement was halting and pragmatic, viewing it as a means of making the losses workers suffer through globalization more palatable to them as well as an impetus for them to take new, lower-paying work more quickly. “One benefit of the policy,” the publication noted, “is that once suitably insured, workers might be less inclined to oppose economic liberalisation.”
Daily News & Commentary
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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.
June 29
In today’s news and commentary, Trump v. CASA restricts nationwide injunctions, a preliminary injunction continues to stop DOL from shutting down Job Corps, and the minimum wage is set to rise in multiple cities and states. On Friday, the Supreme Court held in Trump v. CASA that universal injunctions “likely exceed the equitable authority that […]
June 27
Labor's role in Zohran Mamdani's victory; DHS funding amendment aims to expand guest worker programs; COSELL submission deadline rapidly approaching