Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) introduced legislation on Thursday to promote innovative ways to offer portable benefits to workers engaged in temporary, contract, or on-demand work. The Portable Benefits for Independent Workers Pilot Program Act would establish a $20 million grant fund for states, local governments, and nonprofit organizations that design, implement, and evaluate models to deliver employment benefits that independent workers can maintain as they move from job to job. According to BuzzFeed News, Senator Warner recognizes the criticisms that his portable benefits proposal does not require cost-sharing and may make it easier for companies to misclassify employees as independent contractors, but underscored that “[the proposal] tries to meet the workforce where it’s at, and where it’s headed.”
Last week, the Rhode Island Superior Court held that a local company is guilty of discrimination for refusing to hire a prospective employee that actively used medical marijuana pursuant to the state’s medical marijuana program. ACLU’s Carly Beauvais Iafrate, an attorney representing the plaintiff, remarked, “This decision sends a strong message that people with disabilities simply cannot be denied equal employment opportunities because of the medication they take.”
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved rule changes last week to increase protections for whistleblowers and improve the claims review process. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act established the agency’s whistleblower program, which now, according to the Financial Times, allows the CFTC and whistleblowers to bring anti-retaliation actions against an employer. Furthermore, employers can no longer prohibit would-be whistleblowers from contacting the CFTC directly.
A federal district court in Pennsylvania held earlier this month that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not exclude coverage of “disabling conditions that persons who identify with a different gender may have —such as . . . gender dysphoria, which substantially limits . . . major life activities of interacting with others, reproducing, and social and occupational functioning.” According to JD Supra, the decision implies that transgender individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria can seek reasonable accommodation and disability discrimination protection under the ADA.
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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
August 22
Musk and X move to settle a $500 million severance case; the Ninth Circuit stays an order postponing Temporary Protection Status terminations for migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal; the Sixth Circuit clarifies that an FMLA “estimate” doesn’t hard-cap unforeseeable intermittent leave.