Nov

20

Work Email: “I Always Feel Like … Somebody’s Watching Me”

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment

No, this post is not about the singer Rockwell or that annoying Geico commercial, but about whether you should just assume that your boss monitors your email.
A new Wall Street Journal article suggests that is what exactly may be happening, but now there is some push back from employees and their advocates:
Big Brother is [...]

Nov

13

Important Caterpillar 401(k) Fees Litigation On The Way to Settlement

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | November 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment

From Forbes.com yesterday:
In the war over hidden and excessive 401(k) fees, investors may have won a battle in Illinois.
Caterpillar, the heavy equipment manufacturer in Peoria, Ill. has agreed to settle a class action alleging that employees and retirees in its 401(k) plans were overcharged by potentially millions of dollars.
If a federal judge and independent [...]

Nov

3

The NFL Commissioner Asks for Labor Law Reform?

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | November 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Who knew that the commissioner of the NFL was such a labor law aficionado?  From Yahoo! News and the AP:
Frustrated by court decisions that blocked the suspension of two football players who tested positive for banned substances, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is asking Congress for help.
“We believe that a specific and tailored amendment to [...]

Oct

26

Iqbal’s Plausibility Ruling Heading for a Congressional Hearing

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | October 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Joe Seiner (South Carolina) brings to my attention a very important development in the world of civil procedure and employment discrimination law.
David Ingram of the National Law Journal reports:
Ashcroft v. Iqbal, the 5-month-old U.S. Supreme Court decision that has become a thorn in the side of the plaintiffs bar, will get a Capitol Hill [...]

Oct

16

California Appeals Court Overturns “Objectionable” Employment Discrimination Decision

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | October 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment

As reported by California Case Law (via a tip by friend of the blog, Jack Sargent), the imponderable case of Nazir v. United Airlines, Inc., No. A121651 (Cal. App. Ct. October 8, 2009):
In plaintiff’s race and employment discrimination lawsuit against United Airlines, the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants is [...]

Oct

13

Reinert on the Actual Success of Bivens Claims and Its Implications for the Constitutional Rights of Federal Employees

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | October 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Alex Reinert (Cardozo) has posted on SSRN his forthcoming article in the Stanford Law Review: Measuring the Success of Bivens Litigation and its Consequences for the Individual Liability Model.
Here’s the abstract:
In Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), the Supreme Court held that the Federal Constitution [...]

Oct

6

Gross Goes Ledbetter

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | October 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment

It now appears that the Gross ADEA decision might be going the way of the Ledbetter pay discrimination Title VII decision.  From CQ Politics:
A trio of top Democrats from both chambers plan legislation aimed at rolling back a Supreme Court ruling they say makes it harder for plaintiffs to win age discrimination suits.
Tom Harkin [...]

Sep

24

The Starbucks at the Milwaukee Hilton: Unit Clarification Story

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | September 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment

It is so rare that I actually get to write a post about traditional labor law that I usually jump at the chance.   Especially when the labor law concerns a local Milwaukee institution that most of us are aware of.
What you might not have know is that Hilton food and beverage employees are represented by [...]

Sep

16

Baucus Healthcare Bill Falls Short on Public Option, Employer Mandates, and the Effective Date for the Legislation

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | September 16, 2009 | 2 Comments

In what will certainly be the news of the day, the Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Max Baucus (D-MT), released his version of the national health care reform bill.
Although there are many interesting provisions in the Baucus Bill, including a requirement that individuals have health insurance coverage, the establishment of a health care exchange, proposed [...]

Sep

15

Wisconsin Featured in NYT as Indicator of Economic Recovery

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | September 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment

From Saturday’s New York Times, Peter Goodman’s “In Wisconsin, Hopeful Signs for Factories.”
A taste:
At the Rockwell Automation factory [in Mequon], something encouraging happened recently that might be a portent of national economic recovery: managers reinstated a shift, hiring a dozen workers.
After months of layoffs, diminished production and anxiety about the depths of the Great Recession, [...]

Sep

8

Rise in Unemployment Negatively Correlated With Support for Unions

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | September 8, 2009 | 4 Comments

Have to admit that I was a little taken aback when I saw this post (and chart) from Nate Silver at 538.com:
Gallup recently found sympathy toward labor unions is at an all-time low, at 48 percent. but then again, unemployment is close to its post-WWII highs. Gallup did not happen to ask this question [...]

Sep

3

Low Income Employees Losing Income Left and Right

Posted by: Paul M. Secunda | September 3, 2009 | 1 Comment

Steve Greenhouse over at the New York Times gives us the scoop about an interesting new workplace study by Ruth Milkman, among others:
Low-wage workers are routinely denied proper overtime pay and are often paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los [...]

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