The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is a popular venue for class action lawsuits. As of November 1, 2018, it is also the first to require parties settling such lawsuits to make broad public disclosures regarding the settlements.
Michael Reed
Proposed Changes to Class Action Rules Covering Notice, Settlements, Objections, and Appeals Awaiting Approval of Congress
By Michael Reed & Ryan A. Glasgow on
Posted in Class Actions
The Supreme Court recently approved substantial changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including amendments to Rule 23, which covers federal class actions. The amendments to Rule 23 seek to modernize and standardize the notice, settlement, objection, and appeal procedures. If Congress approves the amendments, they will become effective December 1, 2018. Continue Reading Proposed Changes to Class Action Rules Covering Notice, Settlements, Objections, and Appeals Awaiting Approval of Congress
Supreme Court Rejects Notion That FLSA Exemptions Should Be “Narrowly Construed”
By Michael Reed & Ryan M. Bates on
Posted in FLSA/Wage & Hour, Supreme Court Cases
A single paragraph in an otherwise routine opinion could have reverberations in FLSA exemption cases for years to come.
Earlier this week, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court held in Encino Motorcars LLC v. Navarro et al. that auto service advisors are exempt under the FLSA’s overtime pay requirement. While the case resolved a circuit split for a discrete exemption, the Court’s decision has broad implications for all employers.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Rejects Notion That FLSA Exemptions Should Be “Narrowly Construed”
DOL Expresses Interest in Banning “Tip-Skimming”
By Michael Reed & Ryan A. Glasgow on
The practice of “tip-pooling,” which refers to the sharing of tips between “front-of-house” staff (servers, waiters, bartenders) and “back-of-house” staff (chefs and dishwashers), has been in the news recently as the Trump Department of Labor (“DOL”) seeks to roll back a 2011 Obama-era rule limiting the practice under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).
Continue Reading DOL Expresses Interest in Banning “Tip-Skimming”
NLRB Overturns Prior Precedent, Eliminates “Micro Units” and Discards “Overwhelming Community of Interest” Standard
By Michael Reed & Kurt G. Larkin on
Posted in Labor Unions, NLRB
During a week that brought several notable decisions, the National Labor Relations Board issued a ruling on Friday, December 15, 2017, overturning its controversial 2011 Specialty Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 357 NLRB 934 (2011) (“Specialty Healthcare”) decision, which held that in order for employees to be included in a collective bargaining unit, employers had to prove the employees shared an “overwhelming community of interest” with one another. The unions argued that the “overwhelming community of interest” burden was all but impossible to meet and effectively allowed unions to create “micro-units” of any number, group, or sub-group of employees the unions saw fit. This in turn meant that an employer could be faced with negotiating collective bargaining agreements with multiple groups of employees who often shared the same schedule, workplace, and general terms and conditions of employment, but nonetheless were represented by different locals or divisions of the same or multiple unions. In one particularly glaring example, the Board approved a union’s request for separate bargaining units in each of nine different graduate student departments at Yale University despite the fact that the union already represented existing, university-wide bargaining units.
NLRB Overrules Browning-Ferris to Reinstate Prior Joint-Employer Standard
By Michael Reed & Kurt G. Larkin on
Posted in Labor Unions, NLRB
The National Labor Relations Board issued a much-anticipated decision on Thursday, overruling its controversial 2015 Browning-Ferris decision that unions and employees argued drastically expanded the definition and scope of the Board’s joint-employer doctrine. In Browning-Ferris, the Board departed from decades of precedent and held that entities who merely possessed—as opposed to directly and immediately exercised—control over workers would be deemed joint employers for purposes of assessing liability under the National Labor Relations Act. The Board used the Browning-Ferris decision to expand its reach under the joint-employer doctrine to include, for example, companies that relied on staffing agencies and in some cases, parent companies that did not exercise immediate or direct control over a subsidiary’s workers, but had the potential authority to affect certain terms and conditions of employment. The Browning-Ferris decision faced heavy criticism from employers as well as an appeal of the decision itself to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Continue Reading NLRB Overrules Browning-Ferris to Reinstate Prior Joint-Employer Standard
EEOC Issues Performance and Accountability Report for Fiscal Year 2017, Highlights Reduction in Backlog and Plans for Upcoming Year
By Michael Reed & Kevin J. White on
Posted in EEOC Developments
On November 15, the EEOC issued its 2017 annual Performance and Accountability Report, providing details and statistics regarding the Commission’s performance and goals during the period of October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017.
Federal Judge Invalidates Obama-Era Department of Labor Overtime Rule
By Amber M. Rogers & Michael Reed on
Posted in Employment Policies
On August 31, 2017, a federal district court judge in Texas struck down the Department of Labor’s Obama-era controversial 2016 rule that raised the minimum salary threshold required to qualify for the Fair Labor Standards Act’s “white collar” exemption. Under the proposed regulations, the minimum salary threshold was raised to just over $47,000 per year, and increased the overtime eligibility threshold for highly compensated workers from $100,000 to about $134,000.
President Trump Nominates William J. Emanuel for Last Vacant Seat on National Labor Relations Board
By Michael Reed & Amber M. Rogers on
Posted in NLRB
On June 27, President Trump nominated labor attorney William J. Emanuel to fill the last vacancy of the five seats on the National Labor Relations Board. Emanuel is a management-side labor attorney who has practiced many years before the Board. Emanuel has extensive experience arguing in support of employee class and collective action waivers, including involvement in multiple cases that have either been before the Supreme Court or directly led to precedent that the Supreme Court is now set to consider.
As we have said in previous posts, President Trump’s election and now nomination of two NLRB members could signal a tide turn in favor of employers before the Board. Emanuel’s nomination comes a little over a week after Trump nominated attorney Marvin E. Kaplan to the Board on June 19. If confirmed by the Senate, Emanuel and Kaplan would give the NLRB its first Republican majority since 2008. With a likely more employer-friendly majority, the NLRB could be poised to roll back some of the previous administration’s labor initiatives.
Philadelphia Mayor Signs Bill Giving City Authority to Temporarily Shut Down Businesses That Discriminate
By Michael Reed & Amber M. Rogers on
In a ceremonial signing on June 22, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney signed a new municipal bill giving the City of Philadelphia authority to temporarily close businesses found to have repeatedly violated the City’s anti-discrimination statutes. The new bill, which amends the City’s Fair Practices Ordinance, states that the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations may, “upon a finding that [an employer] has engaged in severe or repeated violations without effective efforts to remediate the violations, order that the [employer] cease its business operations in the City for a specified period of time.” The bill, which went into effect immediately, does not state how long a business may be closed. Nor does it define “severe or repeated violations” or clarify what constitutes “effective efforts to remediate.”