The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has revised its regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that provide guidance on determining joint-employer status.

In January 2020, The DOL released a Joint Employer Fact Sheet defining those changes. That fact sheet may be viewed and downloaded here.

Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced a series of modifications to the Agency’s representation case procedures that will end the Obama-era Ambush Election Rule.

Of the changes, NLRB Chairman John F. Ring stated, “These are common-sense changes to ensure expeditious elections that are fair and efficient. The new procedures will allow workers to be informed of their rights and will simplify the representation process to the benefit of all parties.” 

The changes will be effective 120 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register, which is anticipated to be December 18, 2019. Read the full press release here.

Despite allegations of corruption against James Hoffa Jr., the Teamsters union elected president since 1998, Democratic presidential hopefuls Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar attended a Teamsters forum hosted by the labor leader on Saturday in the hope of earning his endorsement.

To receive an invitation to the forum, candidates had to sign the union’s three-point pledge which includes promises to “protect the rights and strengthen the ability of workers to join a union” and “advance legislation to protect pensions and solve the multiemployer pension funding crisis” among other things.

Read more about it at the Free Beacon here.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU),
which handles every shipping container that crosses West Coast ports, had about 15,000 dockworkers as members when it took on the goal of wresting two jobs from a rival union. The chaos that followed their four-year campaign of staging slowdowns at the Port of Portland and flouting federal court orders resulted in the end of Oregon-based cargo service for exporters as far inland as Idaho’s Snake River.

The union’s tactics were so severe that the National Labor Relations Board called the conduct unlawful and a jury later awarded ICTSI Oregon, Portland’s former terminal operator, $94m in damages during a civil suit against ILWU and Local 8. 55% (or roughly $55m) of those damages would be paid by ILWU, which has $20m in assets, and the ramainder would come from Local 8, which has $150,000 in assets. The award, if not reversed in appeals, would bankrupt the union.

Read more about the court case and potential bankruptcy here.

RWP Labor Vice President Rusty Brown has been appointed by the President of the United States of America to the Department of Labor as a Policy Advisor.

Please join RWP in congratulating Rusty on his well-deserved new role.