Maddy Joseph is a student at Harvard Law School.
Yesterday, a federal judge invalidated the Obama administration’s overtime rule, which would have doubled the overtime salary threshold to around $47,000. The rule would have made around 4 million additional workers overtime eligible. In an 18-page opinion, Judge Amos Mazzant (E.D. Tex.) concluded that, while the FLSA gives the Labor Department authority to use a salary threshold to determine eligibility for overtime, job duties must also be considered, at least when the salary threshold is high enough that it might sweep in white collar workers exempted from overtime.
As we previously covered, after Judge Mazzant enjoined the rule in November 2016, the Obama Administration appealed. When the Trump Administration took over, it continued to defend its FLSA authority but told the Fifth Circuit that it planned to abandon Obama’s rule.
Also on Thursday, France’s government unveiled its overhaul of the country’s labor code. As The New York Times summarizes:
[President Emmanuel] Macron’s changes make it easier to hire and fire workers and allow some workplace issues to be negotiated directly at the company level, rather than through industrywide agreements . . . .
The changes will go into effect on September 22, after they are ratified by the Cabinet.
The NLRB filed a complaint against Tesla yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reports. The unfair labor practices alleged include Tesla’s requirement that workers sign broad confidentiality agreements that prevented them from talking about safety and working conditions.
Daily News & Commentary
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August 5
Clash over potential change to Canada’s labor code; Harvard’s Center for Labor and a Just Economy releases model sectoral bargaining laws; NJ sues Amazon for antitrust violations.
August 4
WestJet reaches a deal to end a flight attendant strike; the NLRB rules Whole Foods legally banned Black Lives Matter display; a commentary argues college athletes should have the right to collectively bargain.
August 3
Queens College faculty stage protest; UAW holds presidential debate; the Protect College Sports Act gets new life.
August 2
WestJet flight attendants go on strike, and the American Federation of Government Employees challenges another VA attempt to terminate its collective bargaining agreement.
July 31
Legislators move to end mandatory arbitration in employment contracts; NYC tip laws result in greater pay for delivery workers; women's college basketball players seek to unionize.
July 30
Supreme Court denies Cemex's bid to pause bargaining order; employers remain exposed to Title VII suits over English-only rules; Texas judge declines to enjoin NLRB proceeding despite unconstitutional removal protections.