Labor

  • September 24, 2025

    Mich. Hospital Must Bargain With SEIU Amid 6th Circ. Appeal

    A Michigan hospital must keep bargaining with a Service Employees International Union affiliate while it appeals an injunction that forced it to resume working with the union, a Sixth Circuit panel said, finding the hospital is unlikely to show it acted lawfully when it withdrew recognition in 2023.

  • September 23, 2025

    Feds Tell Justices GEO Can't Rush Detainee Work Row Appeal

    The federal government told the U.S. Supreme Court that immigrant detention contractor The GEO Group Inc. is wrong when it asserts that a federal judge's rejection of its immunity defense to a detainee class action could be appealed immediately.

  • September 23, 2025

    DHS Floats H-1B Rule To Prioritize Higher-Paid Workers

    The Trump administration proposed a rule on Tuesday to change the H-1B lottery process to one that gives priority to higher-skilled workers at companies offering better pay, according to a Federal Register notice.

  • September 23, 2025

    Ex-Verizon Employee's Race Bias Suit Over Slur Alive For Now

    A fired white Verizon employee presented enough evidence to show that he was treated differently from a black employee even though both used the N-word, a New York federal judge said Tuesday, adopting a magistrate judge's recommendation to keep the racial bias claim going.

  • September 23, 2025

    Starbucks Unlawfully Fired 4 Wis. Baristas, NRLB Judge Finds

    Starbucks violated federal labor law by firing four employees after their union meeting at a Madison, Wisconsin, cafe ran slightly past the store's closing time, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, saying the firings were motivated by anti-union animus.

  • September 23, 2025

    HVAC Co. Loses Constitutionality Bid To Block NLRB Case

    A Missouri HVAC company can't halt a National Labor Relations Board case challenging the company's use of confidentiality agreements because federal courts can't intervene in labor disputes, a federal judge ruled.

  • September 22, 2025

    Amazon Says NY Labor Law Update Steps On NLRA

    Amazon on Monday launched a federal lawsuit challenging an amendment to New York labor law that the ecommerce company says "flips U.S. labor law on its head" by unconstitutionally empowering the state's Public Employment Relations Board to regulate private-sector labor relations already covered by federal law.

  • September 22, 2025

    $100K H-1B Fee Will Likely Hurt Both US And Foreign Workers

    The new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, which took effect on Sunday with little advance notice, blindsided immigration attorneys who told Law360 that it could ultimately hurt domestic workers by driving U.S. companies to do business elsewhere.

  • September 22, 2025

    Justices Urged To Narrow Liability Defense In GEO Wage Row

    Public Citizen urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to rein in lower courts' interpretation of the 85-year-old Yearsley ruling, arguing it doesn't provide government contractors sovereign immunity derived from the government.

  • September 22, 2025

    DC Circ. Mulls International Media Funding, Firings

    The D.C. Circuit is set to decide whether or not to allow the Trump administration to continue dismantling the agency that oversees state news broadcaster Voice of America after hearing consolidated arguments Monday morning in a quartet of cases challenging the shutdown.

  • September 22, 2025

    Bakery Co. Flouted Sick-Time Arbitration Award, Union Says

    Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc. is fighting allegations by a Teamsters local representing employees at two sales centers in Minnesota that the company failed to comply with an arbitration award in a dispute over its sick-time policy, asking a federal court to dismiss the case.

  • September 22, 2025

    Puerto Rico Finance Board Members Sue Trump Over Firings

    Three former members of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico have sued the Trump administration alleging they were illegally fired without cause last month, asking a judge to block the "unlawful and unconstitutional" action.

  • September 22, 2025

    11th Circ. Wants More Arguments In Labor Agreement Fight

    An Eleventh Circuit panel has asked for more arguments on jurisdiction and standing as it weighs two builder groups' legal challenge of an executive order requiring union-favoring project labor agreements for federal contracts valued over $35 million.

  • September 19, 2025

    Trump Tags H-1B Visa Apps With $100,000 Fee

    President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order to impose a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, framing it as a "restriction on entry" necessary to stem the entry of high-skilled foreign workers, particularly in science and technology fields.

  • September 19, 2025

    Feds Say Court Can't Stop Voice Of America Layoffs

    The U.S. government agency that runs broadcaster Voice of America urged a  D.C. federal judge not to hold that an order to fulfill its mandate as a news source blocks it from carrying out imminent layoffs, opposing an enforcement bid by unions and employees including VOA's director.

  • September 19, 2025

    HVAC Co. Says NLRB Unconstitutionality Halts Case

    A Missouri HVAC contractor pushed a federal court to halt a National Labor Relations Board case challenging the company's use of confidentiality agreements, saying that the board's structure is unconstitutional and keeping the proceedings in place would cause irreparable harm.

  • September 19, 2025

    CFPB Union Drops Suit Over DOGE Access To Worker Data

    The National Treasury Employees Union on Friday dropped a lawsuit seeking to block Department of Government Efficiency access to personnel data at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a move that comes as the union assesses next steps in its other, higher-profile challenge to the consumer agency's downsizing.

  • September 19, 2025

    Mass. Trash Hauler, Union End 82-Day Strike With 5-Year Deal

    The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 25 and trash hauler Republic Services announced Friday that they have agreed to a new five-year contract, ending an 82-day strike that sparked multiple lawsuits and left more than a dozen greater Boston communities as well as commercial customers with limited or no trash collection for most of the summer.

  • September 19, 2025

    Tech Co. Can't Silence Laid-Off Workers, NLRB Judge Says

    A National Labor Relations Board judge dinged a Seattle-area tech company for its severance agreement's confidentiality clause, saying the clause muzzles workers to such an extent that it violates their right to speak out about work conditions under the National Labor Relations Act.

  • September 19, 2025

    Union's $3.5M OT Pension Suit Win Overturned At 3rd Circ.

    The Third Circuit overturned Friday a pipe fitters and plumbers union local's $3.5 million win in a dispute with a commercial real estate company over pension contributions related to overtime hours, holding that the parties' collective bargaining agreements didn't obligate the employer to pay additional benefits.

  • September 19, 2025

    Truck Dealer's Union Rebukes Were Illegal, NLRB Judge Says

    Linked businesses that service and sell trucks at an Illinois dealership violated federal labor law by twice rebuking their workers' union, the first time by carving certain workers out of a combined unit and the second by ceasing recognition altogether, a National Labor Relations Board judge said this week.

  • September 19, 2025

    Calif. Forecast: Fast-Food Workers Seek Wage Suit Sanctions

    In the coming week, attorneys should keep an eye out for arguments regarding sanctions in a wage and hour class action against an operator of Jack in the Box restaurants. Here's a look at that case and other labor and employment matters coming up in California.

  • September 18, 2025

    Starbucks Accused Of Not Paying For 'Restrictive' Dress Code

    Starbucks employees from Colorado, Illinois and California on Wednesday launched legal actions against the coffeehouse giant for allegedly refusing to reimburse them for clothing and shoes despite requiring a new dress code.

  • September 18, 2025

    Teamsters Bring Labor Complaint Under NY NLRB Fill-In Law

    The Teamsters-affiliated Amazon Labor Union has filed potentially the first unfair labor practice charge against a private employer through New York's new system for processing labor law violations, which is being challenged by the National Labor Relations Board as an encroachment on the board's territory.

  • September 18, 2025

    NLRB Suit May Test States' Power To Act As Its Stand-In

    A National Labor Relations Board lawsuit opposing New York's new law letting the state fill in for the hobbled agency may test a doctrine forbidding states from taking over the NLRB's regulatory duties — if the suit can clear procedural hurdles that thwarted past challenges to state labor laws.

Expert Analysis

  • How 5th Circ.'s NLRB Ruling May Reshape Federal Labor Law

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent SpaceX National Labor Relations Board decision undermines the agency's authority, but it does not immediately shut down NLRB enforcement, so employers and labor organizations should expect more litigation, more uncertainty and a possible U.S. Supreme Court showdown, say attorneys at Goldberg Segalla.

  • Ruling On Labor Peace Law Marks Shift For Cannabis Cos.

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    Currently on appeal to the Ninth Circuit, an Oregon federal court’s novel decision in Casala v. Kotek, invalidating a state law that requires labor peace agreements as a condition of cannabis business licensure, marks the potential for compliance uncertainty for all cannabis employers in states with labor peace mandates, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Trump NLRB Picks May Usher In Employer-Friendly Precedent

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    If President Donald Trump's National Labor Relations Board nominees are confirmed, the board would regain a quorum with a Republican majority and would likely reverse several union-friendly decisions, but each nominee will bring a unique perspective as to how the board should operate, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Handbook Hot Topics: State Laws Shape Drug-Testing Policies

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    With the growing popularity of state laws regulating drug testing, employers must consider the benefits and costs associated with maintaining such policies, particularly where they are subject to conflicting state laws, say attorneys at Kutak Rock.

  • Union Interference Lessons From 5th Circ. Apple Ruling

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent holding that Apple did not violate the National Labor Relations Act during a store's union organizing drive provides guidance on what constitutes coercive interrogation and clarifies how consistently enforced workplace policies may be applied to union literature, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • NY Bill Would Complicate Labor Law Amid NLRB Uncertainty

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    The New York Legislature passed a bill that, if enacted, would grant state agencies the power to enforce federal labor law, potentially causing significant challenges for employers as they could be subject to both state and federal regulators depending on the National Labor Relations Board's operational status, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Corp. Human Rights Regulatory Landscape Is Fragmented

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    Given the complexity of compliance with nations' overlapping human rights laws, multinational companies need to be cognizant of the evolving approaches to modern slavery transparency, and proposals that could reduce mandatory due diligence and reporting requirements, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Forced Labor Bans Hold Steady Amid Shifts In Global Trade

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    As businesses try to navigate shifting regulatory trends affecting human rights and sustainability, forced labor import bans present a zone of relative stability, notwithstanding outstanding questions about the future of enforcement, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • 7 Ways Employers Can Avoid Labor Friction Over AI

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    As artificial intelligence use in the workplace emerges as a key labor relations topic in the U.S. and Europe, employers looking to reduce reputational risk and prevent costly disputes should consider proactive strategies to engage with unions, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Wash. Law Highlights Debate Over Unemployment For Strikers

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    A new Washington state law that will allow strikers to receive unemployment benefits during work stoppages raises questions about whether such laws subsidize disruptions to the economy or whether they are preempted by federal labor law, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Handbook Hot Topics: Shifting Worker Accommodation Rules

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    Since President Donald Trump took office, many changes have directly affected how employers must address accommodation requests, particularly those concerning pregnancy-related medical conditions and religious beliefs, underscoring the importance of regularly reviewing and updating accommodation policies and procedures, say attorneys at Kutak Rock.

  • Water Cooler Talk: Performance Review Tips From 'Severance'

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    In the hit series "Severance," the eerie depiction of performance reviews, which drone on for hours and focus on frivolous issues, can instruct employers about best practices to follow and mistakes to avoid when conducting employee evaluations, say Tracey Diamond and Emily Schifter at Troutman.

  • High Court Order On Board Firings Is Cold Comfort For Fed

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Trump v. Wilcox order, upholding the firings of two independent agency board members during appeal, raises concerns about the future of removal protections for Federal Reserve System members, and thus the broader politicization of U.S. monetary policy, say attorneys at Squire Patton.