Posted on March 14, 2016 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
Earlier this month, the federal U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which issues opinions that are controlling with respect to Wisconsin employers, determined that an employer’s decision to fire one of its workers violated the National Labor Relations Act. The employer at issue in the case is a staffing company that provided contingent […]
Posted on February 17, 2016 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
In the aftermath of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s recent death, many of my friends and colleagues have asked what Justice Scalia’s passing means to the future of significant employment and labor law cases. First, Justice Scalia’s death means that it is likely that the Supreme Court will be deadlocked 4-4, along ideological lines, when […]
Posted on February 15, 2016 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
On February 3, 2016, in Crew One Productions, Inc. v. NLRB, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [which issues opinions that impact businesses in Alabama, Florida and Georgia] concluded that the NLRB misapplied the law concerning whether two separate employers may be treated as a single, joint employer for union organizing purposes. […]
Posted on February 11, 2016 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
Often [at least within my respective circles of friends and co-workers],the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is criticized for its polemics of ipse dixit—“it is so because we say it is so.” Recently, one business advanced this same criticism through legally challenging the NLRB’s decision in federal appeals court. On February 9, 2016, the US […]
Posted on February 8, 2016 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
Does your company’s public business website create liability under the ADA? The short, lawyerly, answer is—“it depends.” Plaintiffs’ lawyers across the country are seizing upon Title III of the ADA [Places of Public Accommodation] as a basis for making threatening demands and filing lawsuits based on the claim that publicly-accessible business websites do not provide […]
Posted on February 4, 2016 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
For most companies that have experienced a union organizing campaign, the concept of “captive audience” speeches on the eve of a manual, secret-ballot election is very familiar. In this context, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) has long held that employers are generally prohibited from conducting massed captive-audience speeches within the 24-hour period prior to […]
Posted on December 9, 2015 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
Much ink has been spilled by those writing about the attention-grabbing, nationwide, consolidated wage and hour lawsuit brought by current and former minor-league professional baseball players. The case is Senne v. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, Case No. 3:14-00608-JCS, venued within the federal U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. As a […]
Posted on December 7, 2015 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
In the aftermath of the National Labor Relations Board’s recent, controversial Browning-Ferris Industries “joint employment” decision [362 NLRB No. 186], many within the management-side legal community [myself included] issued portentous predictions about the future –including Trojan Horse organizing tactics and the adverse impact on pervasive contingent workforce arrangements. However, one of the Board’s Regional Directors […]
Posted on May 4, 2015 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
On January 14, 2015, a group of labor unions—led by the UAW and UFCW—filed suit against Hardin County, Kentucky, in response to a municipal “right-to-work” ordinance. Through the lawsuit, the unions allege that the National Labor Relations Act preempts [overrides and does not permit] local right-to-work measures. A blog post about so-called right-to-work laws is […]
Posted on April 28, 2015 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
Yesterday, as expected, several labor unions filed suit in the Dane County Circuit Court, challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s Right-to-Work Law [2015 Wisconsin Act 1]. A copy of the complaint filed by the labor unions is available here: Right to Work Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief Recently, labor unions in Indiana unsuccessfully challenged Indiana’s […]