Wages
Rhode Island – A house committee failed to advance legislation to raise the minimum wage to $21/hr and eliminate the tip credit. The legislation was held for “further study.” More details.
Paid Leave
Minnesota – A senate committee advanced house-approved legislation that would give workers up to 12 weeks paid family leave and up to an additional 12 weeks paid sick leave. Also of note, similar language is being inserted into the state budget proposal. More details.
Labor Policy
Labor Department – The Senate HELP committee advanced the nomination of acting head Jessica Looman to serve as agency’s Wage and Hour Division administrator. Looman’s nomination was voted on in Feb. but she did not make it out of committee because Sen. Bob Casey was recovering from surgery and could not attend the meeting in person to cast a tie-breaking vote for Looman. Her nomination now heads to the senate floor. More details.
Labor Department – The agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to maximize enforcement of the child labor protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). It is the latest in a long line of MOUs the agency has signed with other departments to further their agenda. More details.
NLRB – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) internal watchdog has opened an inquiry into the subpoena House Republicans issued last week to a regional official who raised concerns about the agency’s handling of Starbucks union cases. The inspector general’s office is looking into whether the subpoena potentially violated the National Labor Relations Act or the Anti-Deficiency Act, which regulates government spending and use of agency resources. The agency’s deputy director for congressional affairs said in a letter that the committee’s “unprecedented action significantly threatens interference with ongoing investigations and litigation, infringement of parties’ due process rights, and compromise of the integrity of the Agency’s processes.” More details.
EEOC – The Senate HELP committee advanced Kalpana Kotagal’s nomination to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). She was initially nominated nearly a year ago. The panel voted 11-10 along party lines. She is filling a seat left vacant by Republican Commissioner Janet Dhillon whose term expired last year. More details.
Hawaii – A house committee advanced pay transparency legislation requiring job listings to include an hourly rate or salary range. It further prohibits an employer from discriminating between employees because of any protected category for substantially similar work. More details.
Michigan – The governor signed legislation to repeal the state’s right-to-work law. Established by Republicans in 2012, the law allows workers in unionized jobs to opt out of paying union dues and fees. Michigan, a state steeped in labor history, could become the first state in nearly 60 years to reverse its right-to-work law. Late in the process house leaders added a $1 million appropriation to the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to respond to public questions about the legislation and implement it. The appropriation means that the legislation is not subject to a public referendum in which voters could reject the law. More details.
Tennessee – Preemption legislation continues to advance through the house that would ensure that local governments cannot various aspects or labor and employment law including hours, employee output, benefits, and wages. More details.
Utah – The governor signed legislation creating a potential portable benefits program under which independent contractors and other self-employed workers can access a variety of new benefits plans that are entirely their own and entirely portable. Market-based programs will be encouraged for health insurance, unemployment insurance, disability insurance-related products, and the “Utah medical care savings account” that self-employed workers may use to pay for their portable health insurance benefits and medical expenses. More details.
Labor Activism
California – An additional hearing has been set for April 10 regarding legislation requiring the Department of Public Health to make a list of all certified food handler training programs along with the cost of each program available on its website by Jan. 1, 2025. Local public health departments would be required to provide a link of this page on their website, or include the same list on their website. In addition, the bill would require an employer to pay the employee for any cost associated with the employee obtaining a food handler card. That includes but is not limited to the time it takes for the employee to complete the training, the cost of the food handler certification program, and the time it takes to complete the certification program. The bill further requires an employer to relieve an employee of all other work duties while the employee is taking the training course and examination. And, an employer would be prohibited from conditioning employment on an applicant or employee having an existing food handler card. The bill was originally filed in response to the New York Times piece regarding the National Restaurant Association and its ServSafe program. More details.
Chipotle – The company agreed to pay $240,000 to former employees as part of a settlement stemming from a complaint that the company violated federal labor law. At issue, Chipotle announced it was permanently closing its Augusta, Maine, location last year after workers filed an NLRB petition for a union election. The NLRB later said the closure was illegal. The Maine location was the first in the chain to file a union petition. The settlement, released by union officials on Monday, states that two dozen employees will receive payments from Chipotle and they will be placed on a preferential hiring list for other Maine locations. The company must also post a notice in dozens of stores in New England that it won’t close stores or discriminate against employees due to union support, the settlement states. More details.
Scheduling
Connecticut – Legislation to amend existing statutes to prohibit an employer from mandating an employee to work more than six consecutive days without a day off during a six-day period was reported out of the joint Committee on Labor and Public Employees. The bill will now head to the senate floor for further consideration. More details.
Sustainability
Washington – A senate committee advanced house-approved legislation banning the state’s largest utility, Puget Sound Energy, from extending natural gas hookups to any new buildings as of July 1. If passed, it will be illegal for builders to place natural gas or propane in new construction as a primary source of energy. Instead, they are required to install a heat pump for both space and water heating. The code regulation allows natural gas as a backup energy source. The heat pump requirement is estimated to add $9,200 to a new home price. The legislation is codifying new regulations promulgated by the Washington State Building Code Council which sought a statewide standard since numerous jurisdictions, including Seattle, had adopted their own similar ordinances. More details.
Misc.
Arkansas – Legislation is being fast tracked that would substantially alter the franchisor / franchisee relationship in the state. It would: dramatically impact a franchisor’s ability to choose their own franchisees; expand transfer rights for franchisees; narrow franchisor rights to deny renewal and transfer, and; limit franchisor rights of first refusal and to modify terms of a franchise agreement as a condition of renewal or transfer. In addition, the bill expands the remedies available to franchisees when a franchisor breaches the Arkansas Franchise Practices Act and codifies the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. If passed into law, the modified provisions would apply not only to franchises granted, renewed, or transferred after the effective date but would also apply retroactively to franchises existing on the date the law becomes effective. The bill is a priority for the governor and a majority of house members have signed on as cosponsors. More details.
Florida – Legislation mandating that state and local taxes be excluded from the calculation of credit card interchange fees will face a second round of hearings in the house. Florida is one of nearly ten states with similar legislation pending. More details.
Key Takeaways
- Given the circumstances, Howard Schulz performed about as well as could be expected during his appearance before the Senate HELP committee and Sen Bernie Sanders. The format obviously favored his opponents, but Schulz effectively parried with Democratic senators, getting the better of many exchanges. The SEIU was unable to get a soundbite that could be quickly turned against the company (which certainly was a burning desire for the union). While the company may have won the battle, Senator Sanders’ line of questioning was also part of a larger war. He was intent on getting Schulz on-the-record, under oath, on a list of items related to the former CEO’s direct knowledge / involvement in “union busting.” Expect some of those answers to reemerge as litigation continues around the company’s conduct connected to the SEIU’s unionization effort.
- Part of Starbucks’ strategy has been impugning NLRB officials’ conduct as inappropriately favoring the union. Republican Senators drove that narrative home in the hearing this week. That line of attack could have larger implications for the employer community, and it is something that brands should continue to follow.
- A new study presented this week by the University of Maryland in conjunction with the Brookings Institution finds that almost all of the remaining shortfall in U.S. labor force participation is the result of demographic and other trends that predate the COVID-19 pandemic. After accounting for factors such as population aging and changes in education that influence people’s willingness to work, the study showed that U.S. labor force participation was only about 0.3 percentage points short of where it would have been without the pandemic – equivalent to around 700,000 “missing” workers. The results confirmed that to the extent there is a “labor shortage”, those factors were present long before the pandemic. The research further suggests that there is little chance for significant growth in the near future in the number of workers entering the tight American job market.
Podcast
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