Martin Drake is a student at Harvard Law School.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a memo to employees Friday threatening any employees who would alter search results in favor of their political viewpoints, The Wall Street Journal reports. “The trust our users place in us is our greatest asset and we must always protect it,” Pichai said. “If any Googler ever undermines that trust, we will hold them accountable.” The memo comes after discussions by Google employees that criticized President Trump were leaked to the public. The emails that were leaked discussed how employees might tweak the company’s search functions to show users how to contribute to pro-immigration organizations and contact lawmakers and government agencies. Pichai’s stance on political bias in search results comes after The Intercept revealed that Pichai himself was hiding a Google initiative to launch censored search results in partnership with the Chinese government.
12 Oregon public employees filed a lawsuit demanding back-payment of millions of dollars in union fees, The Associated Press reports. The lawsuit builds off of the recent Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, which held that public employees could no longer be compelled to contribute to the unions that represent their interests in the workplace. The employees are seeking the fees they had paid before the Janus ruling. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is handling the Oregon lawsuit and 200 other similar cases across the country.
The British Labour party unveiled a plan to have every large British company hand 10 percent of its equity to its workers within the decade, the Financial Times reports. Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell said workers would become part-owners of their employers under the plan. Every company in the UK with over 250 staff would be covered by the proposed policy. Labour also plans to nationalize various utility companies, increase corporate taxes, and extend full employment rights to all workers.
A class-action lawsuit has been filed in Illinois against Wendy’s, the fast food chain, accusing the company of illegally storing employee fingerprints, ZDNet reports. The complaint alleges that Wendy’s has been using fingerprint scanners for employees to clock in and out of work without informing employees of how the company handles employee data, contrary to the requirements of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The BIPA law was enacted in 2008 after a privacy scandal in Illinois, when it was revealed that fingerprint scanners at retail stores were storing customer fingerprints with a third-party biometrics company.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
July 3
Unions seek a preliminary injunction to prevent USDA downsizing; the D.C. District Court issues a preliminary injunction against new student loan regulations; Matt Bruenig releases an analysis of Starbucks’ ongoing legal battle against Starbucks Workers United.
July 2
First Circuit denies federal worker unions’ mandamus petition; federal court denies preliminary injunction against new union reporting rule; House introduces the Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act.
July 1
Trump nominates Keith Sonderling as Labor Secretary; DOL eliminates disparate-impact liability from Title VI regulations; OPM finalizes rule allowing suitability-based removal of federal employees for post-appointment conduct.
June 30
SCOTUS ends removal protections for agencies; staff at NYC cocktail bar vote to unionize.
June 29
In today’s News and Commentary, student-athletes file a class action suit challenging the NCAA’s new Age-Based Rule, a federal judge declines to issue a preliminary injunction against FEMA’s reduction in force but expedites proceedings, and Gavin Newsom opposes California’s proposed billionaire tax in favor of a federal approach. On Thursday, DeJuan Campbell, at basketball player […]
June 28
Philadelphia utility workers announce July 4 strike; national parks workers vote to unionize; Michigan considers “right to disconnect” bill.