COVID-19
Los Angeles County, CA – The county will again require that masks be worn indoors even by those vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Full details have yet to be released; however, it’s expected that indoor dining will not be impacted (people will be allowed to remove their masks while eating and drinking at restaurants). More details.
Wages
AFL-CIO – The nation’s largest labor union released their annual Executive Paywatch Report, highlighting disparities between executive compensation and median worker income.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Synchrony – Synchrony Financial announced it is raising the minimum wage for hourly workers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico to $20/hr.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Study – The National Low Income Housing Coalition issued the latest update to its annual Out of Reach report finding that, on average, a person making $14/hr would have to work 89 hours a week to cover the rent on a “modest” one bedroom, which is estimated to be $1,615 per month.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Paid Leave
Colorado – A conservative non-profit, the Public Trust Institute, filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court alleging that the state’s new Paid Family and Medical Leave Program, which voters approved in 2020, is unconstitutional because the fee workers and employers must pay to fund it is not applied evenly.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Pittsburgh, PA – The city council at least temporarily delayed action on a proposal to change the expiration dates of its special COVID-19 paid sick leave ordinance.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Labor Policy
Federal – Negotiations continue on federal infrastructure legislation as a bi-partisan group of negotiators work to hammer out a feasible compromise.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
U.S. Senate – The Senate voted 50-47 to approve the nomination of Julie Su as Deputy Labor Secretary.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
U.S. Senate – The Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) held a hearing on the nomination of David Weil to head the Labor Department’s Wage & Hour Division as well as the nominations of Gwynne Wilcox and David Prouty to the National Labor Relations Board.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
U.S. Senate – Next week, a hearing will be held on the Protecting the Right of Workers to Organize (PRO) Act.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
U.S. House – The House Appropriations Committee voted 33-25 to advance the fiscal 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill to the house floor.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
California – The state supreme court ruled unanimously that a California requirement that employers pay workers for missed breaks at their “regular rate of compensation” tracks with an overtime requirement for payment based on their “regular rate of pay” and therefore includes all non-discretionary payments, not just hourly wages.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
California – California lawmakers have approved the first state-funded guaranteed income plan in the U.S., which will see $35M used for monthly cash payments to qualifying pregnant people and young adults who recently left foster care, in a move that could spur other states to follow its lead.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Connecticut – The governor signed amended “right to recall” legislation requiring employers to recall laid off workers in order of seniority. More details.
Rhode Island – The governor signed legislation prohibiting an employer from paying “wages” to any of its employees at a rate less than the rate it pays to employees of another “race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, age (40 or over), or country of ancestral origin” (“Protected Class”) for the performance of “comparable work” unless the employer can demonstrate that the wage differential is pursuant to one or more permissible justifications prescribed under the legislation.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Activism
Fight for $15 – Fast food and restaurant workers are planning actions across the country July 20, the anniversary of the last time the federal minimum wage was increased.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Frito-Lay – Hundreds of Frito-Lay workers in Kansas walked off the job this week protesting the continued pandemic-level work conditions citing forced overtime and 80-hour weeks.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Alcohol
California – Legislation permanently allowing cocktails to-go as part of restaurant take-out and delivery orders passed an important committee stop.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Baltimore County, MD – The county liquor board gave unanimous approval to a motion to allow restaurants and bars to offer cocktails to-go.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Delivery
New Hampshire – Legislation is on its way to the governor requiring a food delivery service to enter into an agreement with restaurants before delivering food from that restaurant.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Packaging
Maine – The governor signed legislation that would shift some recycling and waste disposal costs from local taxpayers to producers of hard-to-recycle packaging materials.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Minnesota – The governor signed legislation banning the sale or distribution of food packaging that contains intentionally-added PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) chemicals in food packaging materials.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe