On Tuesday, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on Wells Fargo’s sham account case. As the New York Times reports, Wells Fargo employees created nearly two million fake accounts to pad their sales numbers. At the hearing, senators noted that top executives had faced no real consequences, while the bank’s lowest-paid workers had “borne the brunt of the punishment.” As Senator Elizabeth Warren put it to John G. Stumpf, Wells Fargo’s chief executive, “Your definition of accountability is to push this on your low-level employees. This is gutless leadership.”
Forbes reports that 21 states have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Labor to block its new overtime rule. The suit, filed in the Eastern District of Texas, alleges that the rule is in contravention of the Tenth Amendment and the APA. Most of the states party to the lawsuit have also joined lawsuits seeking to block other Obama administration rules, including the challenge to DACA, the Clean Water Rule, and the Clean Power Plan.
According to
Politico, the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in
Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc. has served as a catalyst for state legislation protecting pregnant workers from workplace discrimination. In
Young, the Court held in favor of a pregnant UPS worker who alleged that she had been denied pregnancy-related accommodations as required by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. Although the holding was a narrow one, it seems to have prompted legislative action. Emily Martin, general counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, explained that since the decision, “we’ve seen even more bipartisan support for the notion that pregnant workers … should be entitled to very reasonable accommodations at work.”
A Thai court has found a British labor activist, Andy Hall, guilty of criminal defamation and violating cyber crimes law. The charges came in connection with his work on a 2013
report accusing Natural Fruit, a Thai-based company, of violating its workers’ rights. Hall was originally sentenced to three years in prison and fined $4,300, but the judge suspended his sentence. Still, human rights advocates are worried that the case will seriously hinder efforts to investigate and monitor workers’ rights abuses in Thailand. Coverage is available at the
New York Times,
Human Rights Watch, and
Jurist.
Daily News & Commentary
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October 1
Senate confirms Keith Sonderling as Labor Secretary; Amazon warehouse workers launch an unfair labor practice strike.
September 30
Harvard grad union wins in First Circuit; AI data trainers initiate misclassification suits; Trader Joe’s found liable under ERISA.
September 29
Unions, AI companies, and private equity firms form a new coalition to shape data center policies; unions express support for the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.
September 28
The Protect College Sports Act nears passage in the Senate; San Francisco municipal workers agree to contract extensions.
September 27
The Trump Administration reaches a settlement with federal unions on reduction in force actions; the United Auto Workers file an en banc petition seeking review of a Second Circuit decision regarding labor arbitrations.
September 25
Healthcare workers rally to restore legal status for TPS holders; nurses at a Maine hospital overwhelmingly vote to form their union despite alleged aggressive union busting tactics.