Mackenzie Bouverat is a student at Harvard Law School.
In Christian Labor Ass’n v. City of Duluth, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota has held that an independent union — along with three businesses and two independent workers — have standing to sue three Minnesota cities and a public sanitary district for project labor agreements which allegedly run afoul of the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME. The project labor agreements at issue require non-members to pay fees to the building trade unions to work on publicly-funded projects; this, the District Court held, may violate the Supreme Court’s holding that mandatory union fees violate the First Amendment rights of public workers.
The Ninth Circuit has permitted a proposed class action Title VII suit to proceed against Nevada’s Chicken Ranch brothel, lifting a temporary stay on the proceedings while the brothel applied to have the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determine whether the brothel was an “employer” under the Civil Rights Act. The Court of Appeals declined to review. The case involves two black employees of the brothel who claim that they were harassed, retaliated against and denied equal job rights throughout their employment at the brothel. The pair seeks to represent themselves and other similarly-situated workers. The case is Byars v. W. Best LLC.
In light of record-high temperatures across the United States, OSHA has indicated that it is “seriously considering emergency rulemaking” on “Heat Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings.” While the agency’s development of a nonemergency standard is underway, it has not scheduled a request for information on the rule until October.
Daily News & Commentary
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August 29
Trump fires regulator in charge of reviewing railroad mergers; fired Fed Governor sues Trump asserting unlawful termination; and Trump attacks more federal sector unions.
August 28
contested election for UAW at Kentucky battery plant; NLRB down to one member; public approval of unions remains high.
August 27
The U.S. Department of Justice welcomes new hires and forces reassignments in the Civil Rights Division; the Ninth Circuit hears oral arguments in Brown v. Alaska Airlines Inc.; and Amazon violates federal labor law at its air cargo facility in Kentucky.
August 26
Park employees at Yosemite vote to unionize; Philadelphia teachers reach tentative three-year agreement; a new report finds California’s union coverage remains steady even as national union density declines.
August 25
Consequences of SpaceX decision, AI may undermine white-collar overtime exemptions, Sixth Circuit heightens standard for client harassment.
August 24
HHS cancels union contracts, the California Supreme Court rules on minimum wage violations, and jobless claims rise