On Friday, the Trump administration announced that it will nominate Scott Mugno to lead the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Mugno, a safety official at FedEx Corporation, is an attorney who has worked at FedEx since 1994.
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein’s firing (which we discussed here), and as details illuminating the unfortunate prevalence of harassment and assault in the entertainment (and other) industries emerge, a Los Angeles Times article overviews the sort of confidentiality agreements prospective workers in the entertainment industry are asked to sign. These agreements, the article explains, can be very broad and in some cases seem to require the prospective employee to agree not to sue for harassing behavior. On a similar theme, Tracie McMillan writes an op-ed for the New York Times about the prevalence of sexual harassment in the restaurant industry. McMillan urges for a change in culture in the industry, which she describes as facilitating the harassment.
On Monday, the NLRB announced that VIUSA Inc. (an industrial services contractor) will pay $21.6M to settle claims that it refused to hire workers represented by a particular union at a Ford Motor Co. plant in Kentucky, and forced those employees to join a different union. The funds will be distributed in part as backpay to former employees and prospective employees that the employer had refused to hire, and the remainder will be distributed to a pension fund as compensation for the employer’s failure to make benefit contributions.
In Moussouris v. Microsoft Corp., a case in which former employees accuse Microsoft of discriminating against women in pay and promotions, plaintiffs on Friday asked the court to certify a nationwide class of over 8,000 women. Plaintiffs argue, citing expert consultants, that the discrimination at Microsoft resulted in the loss of more than 500 promotions and $100M-$238M in pay to women employees.
Daily News & Commentary
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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.
June 19
Report finds retaliatory action by UAW President; Senators question Trump's EEOC pick; California considers new bill to address federal labor law failures.
June 18
Companies dispute NLRB regional directors' authority to make rulings while the Board lacks a quorum; the Department of Justice loses 4,500 employees to the Trump Administration's buyout offers; and a judge dismisses Columbia faculty's lawsuit over the institution's funding cuts.
June 17
NLRB finds a reporter's online criticism of the Washington Post was not protected activity under federal labor law; top union leaders leave the Democratic National Committee amid internal strife; Uber reaches a labor peace agreement with Chicago drivers.