Labor Related Articles
| The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register on September 23, 2019. The proposed rule would settle the recurring question regarding the definition of “employee” under Section 2(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to exempt from the NLRB’s jurisdiction undergraduate and graduate students who perform services for financial compensation at private colleges or universities in connection with their studies. The relationship for these students would be defined as predominantly educational rather than economic. |
| In announcing the proposed rule, NLRB Chairman John F. Ring stated, “In the past 19 years, the Board has changed its stance on this issue three times. This rulemaking is intended to obtain maximum input on this issue from the public, and then to bring stability to this important area of federal labor law.” |
| Public comments are invited on the proposed rule and should be submitted within 60 days of the Notice’s publication. More details may be found at www.regulations.gov, and additional information about the proposed rule may be found here. |
Leif Olson, who resigned 18 days after starting his appointed position as
senior policy advisor of the Wage and Hour Division for the Department of Labor, was reinstated Wednesday. His resignation on August 30 came four hours after Bloomberg reporter Ben Penn emailed the Department of Labor and White House about a Facebook post Olson made in 2016 that Penn cropped to appear anti-Semitic.
Once it became clear the original post was sarcastic, the Department released the following statement: “Following a thorough reexamination of the available information and upon reflection, the department has concluded that Olson has satisfactorily explained the tone and content of his sarcastic social media post and will return to his position.”
Bloomberg, which published an article Tuesday with the accusation, has declined to print a retraction.
Read more about it here.
Labor Day, which took place this past Monday, isn’t simply another holiday. It honors the value of work and the workers who make our country great.
Patrick Pizella’s opinion piece in the Washington Examiner this week entitled “There is Always Dignity in Work” is a great read to remind us what we should strive to celebrate. Find it here.
Recently, I contributed to a paper by the Competitive Enterprise Institute discussing the negative impacts of the proposed Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 (H.R. 2474), also known as the PRO Act. This act would overhaul United States labor relations law to facilitate labor union organizing without regard to the negative consequences on workers, consumers, employers, and the economy.
My segment, “The PRO Act Would Make it More Difficult for Workers to Make an Informed Decision Regarding Unionization,” begins on page 14, but I encourage reading the other strong cases against the PRO Act, written by leading experts Trey Kovacs, Olivia Grady, Russell A. Hollrah, Patrick A. Hollrah, F. Vincent Vernuccio, Morgan Shields, and Austen Bannan.
You can find the full paper here.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in a split-decision that employers may bar non-employees from leafletting on their premises, even if the non-employees work for on-site contractors.
The decision, which was made on a case brought forth by the San Antonio Symphony, reversed an agency judge’s ruling that the Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation violated the National Labor Relations Act.
Read more about it here.
On Friday last week, the Labor Department sent a rule to the White House for final review that would require union intermediaries, such as state and local branches and trusts formed under a union’s name, to discloses their finances to the Office of Labor-Management Standards. This financial reporting would include strike funds, training funds, credit unions, etc.
While Democrats view the measure as anti-union, the Department of Labor has stated the new rule will support “the labor organization’s own interests as a democratic institution and the interests of the public and the government.”
Read more about the new rule at Politico Pro here.
Articles by the RWP Team
