
Zachary Boullt is a student at Harvard Law School.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett has been confirmed to the Supreme Court. You can read OnLabor’s discussion of her history on workers’ issues on the Seventh Circuit here. You can read OnLabor’s discussion of her textualism as it relates to her Kleber decision here.
Bloomberg Law has received more information on the whistleblower complaint regarding the dispute between Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia and Janet Herold, the Department of Labor’s top West Coast litigator. Herold alleged in August that Scalia had ordered her transfer to a non-legal position in Chicago due to her wage-and-hour and worker misclassification work. New information shows that Trump’s Department of Labor has been heavily scrutinizing and sometimes revising her legal pleadings and filings to soften up the language or use a new legal test that the Department of Labor announced this year. In addition to the alleged Trump administration DOL dissatisfaction with her litigation strategy, new information also shows that Herold internally criticized the DOL’s proposed new rule regarding the classification of independent contractors as pro-business.
A union protest from July led by North Central Building Trades unions and United Auto Workers has just found success as the final construction steps for the Academy Chrysler in Kokomo, Indiana will be completed with union labor. The July protests erupted after the unions found out that the Academy Chrysler construction project was using non-local and non-union-labor, despite selling union-made vehicles and being located across the street from a union factory. A union representative also says the publicity from the protest effort has increased the amount of businesses in the Kokomo area seeking union contractors.
The National Treasury Employees Union has sued President Trump in response to an executive order that would allow Trump to recategorize policy-making employees in a way that would remove many of their employee protections. Under the executive order, federal agencies are to place any federal employees with policy-making jobs in this new category. The head of a civil service advisory council has already resigned in response to the rule, criticizing it as a way to require political loyalty of advisors. The union is asking that the D.C. District Court rule the order unlawful.
HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprises will collectively pay $1.45 million in back pay and interest to settle a pay discrimination lawsuit. The Department of Labor had alleged that a review of the companies’ records showed pay disparity between men and women in similar positions. 391 women will receive the back pay settlement. HP denies the pay discrimination allegations and says it agreed to the voluntary settlement to resolve the matter quickly.
Daily News & Commentary
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June 26
A district judge issues a preliminary injunction blocking agencies from implementing Trump’s executive order eliminating collective bargaining for federal workers; workers organize for the reinstatement of two doctors who were put on administrative leave after union activity; and Lamont vetoes unemployment benefits for striking workers.
June 25
Some circuits show less deference to NLRB; 3d Cir. affirms return to broader concerted activity definition; changes to federal workforce excluded from One Big Beautiful Bill.
June 24
In today’s news and commentary, the DOL proposes new wage and hour rules, Ford warns of EV battery manufacturing trouble, and California reaches an agreement to delay an in-person work mandate for state employees. The Trump Administration’s Department of Labor has advanced a series of proposals to update federal wage and hour rules. First, the […]
June 23
Supreme Court interprets ADA; Department of Labor effectively kills Biden-era regulation; NYC announces new wages for rideshare drivers.
June 22
California lawmakers challenge Garmon preemption in the absence of an NLRB quorum and Utah organizers successfully secure a ballot referendum to overturn HB 267.
June 20
Three state bills challenge Garmon preemption; Wisconsin passes a bill establishing portable benefits for gig workers; and a sharp increase in workplace ICE raids contribute to a nationwide labor shortage.