Senate Committee Vets Biden’s Labor Pick. -
On April 20, 2023, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a confirmation hearing on Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su’s nomination to be...more
4/24/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Confirmation Proceedings ,
Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Independent Contractors ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Unions
House of Representatives: Standing Room Only. On March 7, 2023, Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) was sworn in as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives after winning a special election last month to fill a seat that had been...more
The Pandemic Is Dead! Long Live the Pandemic! This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution to immediately end the COVID-19 national emergency, as well as a bill to end the COVID-19 public health emergency....more
2/6/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
OSHA ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
Union Membership Decreases. The percentage of workers who are union members dropped to 10.1 percent in 2022 from 10.3 percent in 2021, according to data released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In the...more
1/23/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Congressional Committees ,
Deferred Action ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
OFCCP ,
OSHA ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
Congress and POTUS Act to Avert National Freight Rail Shutdown. The national freight rail dispute that the Buzz had been tracking for months has come to the end of the line. Several holdout labor unions had refused to ratify...more
12/5/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Federal Contractors ,
Green Cards ,
Immigration Procedures ,
NLRB ,
OFCCP ,
Pending Legislation ,
Railroads ,
Railway Labor Act ,
Railways ,
Strike ,
Supply Chain ,
Trade Unions ,
Unions
The 2022 Midterm Election Results Are In! Sort of. The midterm elections are over, but we still do not know who will be in control of the 118th United States Congress. The predicted “red wave,” by which Republicans were...more
DOL Extends IC Proposal Comment Period. On October 25, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division announced an extension of the public comment period for its proposal to amend the independent contractor...more
10/31/2022
/ Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Rights ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Disputes ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Posting Requirements ,
Railroads ,
Relief Measures ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
DOL Proposes New Independent Contractor Test. On October 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division published a notice of proposed rulemaking—“Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the...more
10/17/2022
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EEO-1 ,
Federal Contractors ,
FOIA ,
Independent Contractors ,
NDAA ,
Pay Data ,
Railroads ,
Strike ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
Nomination News. With control of the U.S. Senate in 2023 up for grabs, the Biden administration continues its push to fill agency leadership positions. Late last week, the Senate confirmed attorney Lisa Gomez to run the U.S....more
10/10/2022
/ Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Dues Checkoff ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
LGBTQ ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Preemption ,
Private Property ,
SCOTUS ,
Union Dues ,
Unions
Members of the U.S. Congress were out this week for their Independence Day break, but they are scheduled to return during the week beginning July 11, 2022, when they will begin a busy three-week legislative period leading up...more
NLRB GC Pushes for Card Checks, Limits on Employer Speech. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo filed a brief in a case asking the Board to make dramatic changes to federal labor law. The...more
4/25/2022
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EEO-1 ,
Emergency Rule ,
Employee Rights ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Filing Deadlines ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
OSHA ,
Public Comment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unions
In a rare moment of bipartisanship - particularly in the labor and employment policy sphere - the U.S. Congress this week passed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. The bill...more
2/14/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Biden Administration ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Executive Orders ,
Logistics ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Sexual Assault ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Trucking Industry ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
PLAs on the Way? President Joe Biden signed an executive order today requiring project labor agreements (PLAs) for all federal construction projects costing more than $35 million. Although the text of the order is not...more
2/7/2022
/ America Competes Act ,
Biden Administration ,
Construction Project ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
NLRB ,
Project Labor Agreements ,
Public Projects ,
Ruth Bader Ginsberg ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
Nuclear Fallout. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer deployed the so-called “nuclear option” this week by seeking to eliminate the legislative filibuster as applied to election reform legislation. (This procedure is...more
1/24/2022
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Federal Contractors ,
Filibuster ,
NLRB ,
OFCCP ,
PBGC ,
Pensions ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Union Membership ,
Unions
Infrastructure Bill Passes - Now What? Both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives are out this week. But before they left for home, on November 5, 2021, the House of Representatives passed the Infrastructure...more
11/12/2021
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Infrastructure ,
New Legislation ,
NLRB ,
NPRM ,
OFCCP ,
OSHA ,
Public Comment ,
Religious Exemption ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations
Congress: Lather. Rinse. Repeat. After scuttling plans last month to vote on both a $1.2 trillion bipartisan “hard infrastructure” bill that the U.S. Senate approved, 69–30, on August 10, 2021, and a proposed $3.5 trillion...more
10/25/2021
/ Clean Water Act ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Infrastructure ,
Legislative Agendas ,
NLRB ,
OIRA ,
OSHA ,
Preemption ,
Proposed Legislation ,
SEIU ,
Senate Confirmation Hearings ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Unions ,
Workplace Safety
Congressional Update -
Various committees in the U.S. House of Representatives continued to work this week on their respective portions of the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion “human infrastructure” reconciliation bill-proposed...more
9/20/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Infrastructure ,
Infrastructure Financing ,
Legislative Agendas ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Tipped Employees ,
Unions ,
USCIS ,
Vaccinations
Administration to Mandate Vaccines for Federal and Private-Sector Employees. President Joe Biden this week dramatically ramped up his administration’s efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates across the country....more
9/13/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Legislative Agendas ,
NLRB ,
Private Sector ,
Public Sector ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour
Joe Says “No.” Over the last several weeks, the Buzz has discussed congressional efforts to pass both a bipartisan “hard” infrastructure bill (this passed the U.S. Senate and is waiting in the U.S. House of Representatives),...more
9/7/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Budget Reconciliation ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EEO-1 ,
Emergency Rule ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Infrastructure ,
Legislative Agendas ,
NLRB ,
OFCCP ,
OSHA ,
Private Property ,
Property Access ,
Relief Measures ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Unemployment Insurance ,
Unions
RIP, Richard Trumka. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka died unexpectedly this week at the age of 72. A former coal miner, Trumka became president of the United Mine Workers of America in 1982....more
8/9/2021
/ AFL-CIO ,
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Arbitration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Infrastructure ,
Minimum Wage ,
Olympics ,
Pending Legislation ,
Pregnancy ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Senate Confirmation Hearings ,
Tax Credits ,
Unions
Senate Committee Examines PRO Act. On July 22, 2021, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) held a hearing entitled “The Right to Organize: Empowering American Workers in a 21st Century...more
7/26/2021
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Biden Administration ,
Comment Period ,
Congressional Committees ,
Consumer Price Index ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
DACA ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Kamala Harris ,
Minimum Wage ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
OSHA ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Senate Confirmation Hearings ,
Tipped Employees ,
Union Elections ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
Last Week Today -
Here is a quick rundown of some of the labor and employment policy developments we missed last week while at Workplace Strategies in Austin, Texas (be sure to join us next year for the program at the...more
7/2/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Conciliation ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Infrastructure ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Time Extensions ,
Tipped Employees ,
Union Elections ,
Unions ,
USCIS ,
Wage and Hour
“A Month of Action on Capitol Hill.” The American Rescue Plan Act was enacted in March 2021, and since then President Joe Biden has been looking for his next major legislative victory. Accordingly, President Biden promised...more
6/14/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Legislative Agendas ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Paycheck Fairness Act ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Unions ,
USCIS
EEOC Releases Vaccine Guidance. On May 28, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued much-needed guidance regarding COVID-19 vaccinations and the workplace. According to the guidance...more
6/1/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Comment Period ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Financial Reporting ,
Military Service Members ,
New Guidance ,
NLRB ,
NPRM ,
OIRA ,
OSHA ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Transparency ,
Unions ,
USCIS ,
Vaccinations
The Biden Administration at 100 Days. President Joe Biden recently marked his 100th day in office, and labor and employment policy changes have been at the forefront of his administration’s agenda. The enactment of the...more
5/25/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Congressional Committees ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Masks ,
NPRM ,
OSHA ,
Paid Leave ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
SCOTUS ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Unions ,
Workplace Safety