Just in time for Labor Day . . . the new Executive Labor Summary is out! Our favorite labor 

commentator, David Phippen of our Washington DC-Metro Office, is his usual bad* self, with the latest of President Trump’s nominees and appointees to the National Labor Relations Board, a court’s “joint employer” decision that may indicate where the now-Republican Board will end up on this issue, the UAW defeat at Nissan in Mississippi, union-related scandals at the U.S. Postal Service and between Chrysler and the UAW, and — a pro-union vote at a chain of erotica shops in New York. (Leave it to David to make labor relations sexy.) Oh, and I almost forgot – a herd of goats taking union jobs in Michigan.

*By “bad,” I mean “awesome.”

Image Credit: From flickr, Creative Commons license, by Jelene Morris. 

Did you know that May is Mental Health Awareness Month? (Neither did I, but I do now.) Our beloved blogger Mallory Schneider Ricci is back at FOCUS, our women's leadership blog, with a post about mental health issues that affect women -- and men -- in the legal profession, and what they can do to take care of themselves.

The March-April Executive Labor Summary is out! David Phippen

The November-December edition of Constangy's Executive Labor Summary is out! David Phippen has a good one (does he ever have any other kind?), including the current status of the U.S. Department of Labor's overtime rule (sick) and the Persuader Rule (still a pulse, but death is imminent), Secretary Thomas Perez's run for chair of the Democratic National Convention, and some dude in ...

There is great rejoicing among federal contractors since a federal judge in Texas has preliminarily blocked the "Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces" rules from going into effect. Absent the court's action, the rules would have taken effect for the largest contractors this past Tuesday, and for some smaller ones in 2017. The case is far from over, but this is a major interim victory ...

Federal protection for trade secrets, "suitable seating," inadvertent labor trafficking, Uber's status as an employer -- whew!

Be sure to check these out if you haven't already:

*Billy Hammel of our Austin Office and Bill McMahon of our Winston-Salem Office (and my next-door neighbor), with Anna Rothschild of our Washington D.C. Metro Office, are digging into the federal Defend ...

I have recommended on this blog and in harassment training that "operations" people (in other words, people who aren't in Human Resources or lawyers) avoid the temptation to investigate workplace harassment complaints on their own.

A commenter asked me last week why I said this. I thanked her for giving me the inspiration for a blog post.

Believe me, I do not think operations ...

Some employers really, really hate to fire employees. That doesn't mean they won't do it - but they'll do just about anything to avoid calling it what it is.

A few months ago, I wrote about "bogus RIFs" - when an employer tries to avoid "firing" an employee by claiming it's really a "reduction in force."

There's another kind of "alternative" separation called a constructive discharge.

NOTE: On January 15, this post was updated and one correction made (see "Nipped in the bud" and "Jury clobbers Catholic diocese," below). 

Happy New Year, everyone! While I've been out for the holidays, the courts and government agencies have stayed busy with employment law matters. Here are the developments that I thought were especially noteworthy:

WAGE AND HOUR

Twenty states raised ...

When I do harassment training, I ask my audiences whether they think employers should ban the "N" word even when it's used by African-Americans among themselves. In my experience, the African-Americans in the audience have been the most vocal advocates for treating everyone equally in this regard. In other words, they argue, the word should be banned for everybody -- not banned for some ...

In honor of our nation's 237th birthday (she doesn't look a day over 236, IMO), I'll be off Friday and hope you will be, too. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has given employers two victories that will make you want to have a beer and shoot off some Roman candles from the back porch. Here's the scoop on one of the decisions -- Vance v. Ball State University, in which the Court took a narrow ...