Wages
Tennessee – Senate-passed legislation mandating that persons with disabilities be paid the full minimum wage will be heard in the state assembly next week. The state currently allows businesses to file for a subminimum wage exception to encourage the employment of people with disabilities but very few businesses have ever utilized the program. The bill is likely to move through the house. More details.
Washington, DC – A local bartender and vocal opponent of past efforts to repeal the tipped wage, has filed a challenge to the validity of petitions filed for Initiative 82. It would eliminate the tip credit in the city by 2027, gradually increasing from the current $5.05/hr to more than $15/hr by 2027. The rate will escalate each year thereafter based on inflation. The challenge was submitted Monday and is predicated on whether the plaintiff can prove enough signatures on the petitions gathered so far are invalid. D.C. law requires those petitions to earn signatures from 5 percent of all registered voters (and those need to represent 5 percent of voters in five of the city’s eight wards). The same plaintiff filed multiple lawsuits during a similar ballot process in 2018. More details.
Paid Leave
Maryland – The senate passed a measure that would provide up to 24 weeks of paid leave per year following the birth, adoption, or guardianship of a child or to take care of themselves or a relative experiencing serious health issues. Depending on their pay, employees who worked either part-time or full-time for at least 680 hours in the last year – would receive a partial wage replacement of between $50 and $1,000/wk under the bill. The legislation would establish a statewide family leave insurance program, funded by contributions from workers and employers in a 75-25 split, with workers contributing more to the fund. Simultaneously, the house gave preliminary approval to their version of the bill which instead establishes a commission to work out specifics of a statewide paid family leave program. Its goal is to implement the program in 2023 so that Marylanders can benefit no later than June 2024. Differences in the bills will have to be resolved. More details.
New Hampshire – The house narrowly voted to repeal the state’s paid family medical leave program less than a year after it was signed into law (two weeks before it was due to go out to bid). Gov. Sununu’s Granite State Paid Family Leave Plan is a voluntary program, an alternative to a mandatory program mainly backed by Democrats but was rebuked by his own party, saying that it’s no longer needed because private insurance carriers have now filed similar plans in the state. The governor had won national acclaim for his voluntary approach. It is unclear if the senate will ultimately vote to repeal it as well. More details.
Labor Policy
U.S. House – The house voted yesterday to pass legislation that would bar companies from requiring customers or employees to litigate employment, consumer, antitrust, or civil rights disputes in private, rather than in court. Those forced arbitration provisions are commonly used by businesses to deal with worker and consumer complaints. The president recently signed a law that bans employers from forcing workers to arbitrate sexual harassment or abuse cases. But this bill, the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act, goes much further in barring companies from forcing consumers and workers to arbitrate more types of disputes. The legislation has major implications for gig work, where companies like Uber, Lyft and GrubHub have pushed for drivers to be required to arbitrate claims for minimum wages, overtime, and paid sick leave. More details.
Equal Pay -President Biden issued an Executive Order requiring the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (“FAR Council”) to consider issuing proposed rules to enhance pay equity and transparency for job applicants and employees of federal contractors and subcontractors. In so doing, the FAR Council is required to “specifically consider whether any such rules should limit or prohibit federal contractors and subcontractors from seeking and considering information about job applicants’ and employees’ existing or past compensation when making employment decisions,” and “the inclusion of appropriate accountability measures in any such rules.” For now, nothing changes for contractors. However, it is likely a new federal regulation imposing new pay equity and transparency requirements on contractors and subcontractors will be issued in the near future and incorporated into new federal contracts. Brands with operations in federal facilities such as airports and military bases should take note. More details.
EEOC – This week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) appointed two key enforcement lawyers. Of particular note, Sharyn Tejani was previously the director of the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund and the Legal Network for Gender Equity at the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) Fund. There she helped create and supervise the first nationwide program to connect workers facing sex discrimination and harassment with attorneys and to fund attorneys’ fees and media assistance for selected cases of workplace sexual harassment. More details.
Labor Activism
Amazon – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) sued Amazon in federal court this week, asking a judge to force the company to swiftly rectify what it called “flagrant unfair labor practices” before workers at one of its Staten Island warehouses begin voting in a union election next week. The case involves a former Amazon employee whom Amazon fired early in the pandemic after he was involved in a protest over safety concerns at the warehouse, known as JFK8. The company said the employee had violated its policy against vulgar and harassing language during a confrontation with another worker in the protest, but the labor agency’s staff determined that his firing was illegal retaliation for his workplace organizing. The case has stretched on for almost two years and though an administrative law judge has not yet ruled in the case, the labor agency argued that a federal judge should force Amazon to make changes immediately, given the union election and the employee’s involvement with the organizing. Voting is set to start next Friday. More details.
Starbucks – Several institutional investors, led by Trillium Asset Management, sent a letter to now former Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson this week urging the company to adopt a global policy of neutrality for all current and future attempts of its workers to organize. They also want Starbucks to reach “fair and timely” collective bargains with workers who vote to join the union. The coalition of more than 75 investors warns of reputational risk for the coffee giant, citing growing public support for unions. Trillium owns over $1.2 billion in Starbucks stock. More details.
Alcohol
California – Legislation expanding existing to-go alcoholic beverages advanced out of a senate committee. Last year, the governor signed legislation which allowed the sale of to-go alcoholic beverages as part of take-out restaurant food orders. The new bill, SB 846, expands the previous legislation in important ways, removing the meal requirement to increase options for consumers and business owners. It also extends the carry-out cocktail provision to bars and allows for the delivery of to-go cocktails from both types of businesses. Finally, the bill increases oversight of alcohol delivery by Alcohol Beverage Control to prevent underage drinking. More details.
New York – Democratic leaders in the state legislature intentionally omitted making alcohol-to-go permanent in their newly released state budget plans. The governor has been an ardent supporter of making the provision permanent. Her proposal would permanently install the program and require the State Liquor Authority to craft and implement regulations allowing delivery and takeout of beer, wine, and cocktails. Legislative leaders countered that this was a policy item that didn’t have a financial impact and therefore did not belong in the budget. With the pandemic mostly behind us, entrenched liquor interests have regained their footing and in many localities are pushing back on much of the progress the industry saw in this space during the last two years. More details.
Privacy
Florida – Onerous legislation opposed by the industry died during the last few hours of the legislative session. If passed, it would have required collectors of consumer data to provide notice to consumers about data collection, sharing, and selling practices and provided consumers the right to request data be disclosed, deleted, or corrected as well as to opt-in or opt-out of the sale or sharing of their data. Most importantly, the legislation allowed for a private right of action, the major sticking point of the bill. A similar version is likely to be introduced next year. More details.
Iowa – Legislation passed the house that would allow consumers to confirm whether a controller is processing the consumer’s personal data and to access and /or delete personal data provided by the consumer. Consumers could also obtain a copy of their personal data and opt out of targeted advertising or the sale of personal data. There is no private right of action in the current legislation now heading to the senate. More details.
Key Takeaways
- Brands and other industry leaders need to take note of the growing influence of institutional and private equity investors on corporate decision making. This has been developing in the sustainability space for some time with large shareholder groups pressuring companies to take climate-related steps. It is now increasingly moving into the labor and benefits space. While there are likely many reasons Starbucks’ CEO Kevin Johnson quickly “retired” this week, a shareholder voting bloc that owns many billions of dollars of your stock calling into question your entire labor relations strategy didn’t help. All brands should take note and industry policy leaders should understand the growing pressure corporate boardrooms are facing.
- More and more states are moving data privacy legislation impacting brands and their obligations and responsibilities with regard to handling consumer information. More states are using the new Colorado and Virginia laws as starting points or blueprints for their own legislation and brands should become very familiar with those particular laws and the challenges they present for companies.
Podcast
Check out our Working Lunch podcast each week that includes further analysis into these legislative issues, policy, politics and much more. You can find Working Lunch on the Restaurant Business online website, SoundCloud, iTunes and Spotify.