Free Republic

The US Supreme Court on June 28 declined to review a challenge by truck drivers to California’s controversial labor law AB5, meaning that it now goes into effect. The decision will throw up to 70,000 California truckers into legal limbo and further pressure the already-stressed supply chain.AB5 is a labor classification law that was designed to force gig-economy companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash to classify workers as employees, instead of as independent contractors, meaning they’d be eligible for benefits. Of course, lobbyists from those tech giants managed to get their companies exempted.RedState has reported extensively on AB5 in the...

The National Labor Review Board had released email exchanges between Google senior executive Urs Hölzle and former engineer Kevin Cernekee The correspondences show how Hölzle attempted to silence the employee from sharing his political beliefs and said his behaviors were 'entirely inappropriate' Cernekee reported the comments to the NLRB and filed a complaint arguing that the company was bashing white males NLRB regulators ruled that Google was 'justified' in firing Cernekee for alleged improper use of company equipment They also determined that Hölzle violated labor laws and infringed on Cernekee's first amendment rights

Hypothetical. An employee is paid every two weeks. He worked for two weeks before his first paycheck. His checks are always two weeks in arrears. His employer tells him his (the employee's) hours are getting cut in half and that his salary will be halved accordingly. However, the following paycheck followed two weeks of full time work. The employee is owed a full paycheck since he hasn't even started working part time yet. Is this illegal? Can the employer simply take the employee's legally earned wages?

My former employer is trying to make me pay for repair to labor housing. I was REQUIRED to live on the job site and be on call. When one is required to live in labor housing, it does NOT count as income, either federally or in state law. There also was no lease/tenancy agreement which would suggest it was a landlord tenant arrangement. There was no payment for the home in anyway. My understanding is as the house is essentially part of the work place, labor is not required to pay for rehabing the place(paint, new carpet, flooring, etc.) or...

Amid the protests of thousands of workers, the Bosnian-Croat regional parliament on Thursday adopted a new labor law that aims to create a more business-friendly environment with the intention of creating jobs. […] The law makes laying off workers somewhat easier and regulates severance terms. It introduces Western-style working contracts that no longer guarantee employment until retirement. […] The former labor law was inherited from the communist regime and offered wide protection to workers but was not business-friendly. It was partly the reason for the 40 percent unemployment rate. …

U.S. v. DOUGLAS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE/CROSS-APPELLANT, v. DONNY G. DOUGLAS (07-1695/1850) AND JAY D. CAMPBELL (07-1696/1851), DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS/CROSS-APPELLEES. Nos. 07-1695, 07-1696, 07-1850, 07-1851 United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. Argued: January 20, 2011. Decided and Filed: February 10, 2011. ARGUED: N. C. Deday LaRene, LaRENE & KRIGER, P.L.C., Detroit, Michigan, Harold Gurewitz, GUREWITZ & RABEN, PLC, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellants. Kathleen Moro Nesi, ASSISTANT UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: N. C. Deday LaRene, LaRENE & KRIGER, P.L.C., Detroit, Michigan, Harold Gurewitz, GUREWITZ & RABEN, PLC, Detroit, Michigan, for Appellants. Kathleen Moro Nesi, ASSISTANT UNITED...

Freepers: I occasionally work as an adjunct (I'm retired) for a local college. This college has just initiated a policy where they require their students to work for 75 hours for a third-party for free. That is, they require that a student give 75 hours of work to a non-profit, a charity, and so forth. The college will provide the list of organizations from which a student can choose. This strikes me as being pretty shaky legally and ethically. We seem to be providing a pool of unpaid labor for groups in our community--regardless of whether they want to work...

President Obama and his advisers insist that they place national economic recovery over every other policy objective. However, when it comes to labor policy, they support measures that economic history indicates would significantly hinder such recovery. Perhaps the most shocking is Sen. Ted Kennedy’s cynically mislabeled Employee Free Choice Act, known more generally as “card check.” Card check would not promote “free choice” but would instead take away employers’ right to demand secret-ballot elections for union representation. ... The Kennedy card-check scheme is far from the only economy-crushing Big Labor special-interest legislation that Obama has endorsed. The trial-lawyer-friendly “Lilly Ledbetter...

The U.S. Senate recently blocked a bill that would have junked 72 years of U.S. labor law and, for the first time, allowed the federal government to force employers and workers alike to sign union contracts without their consent. The proposal, which passed the House with support from Rep. Mark Udall, contained an offensive and little-known provision that would have allowed a government arbitrator to impose a two-year contract on businesses and workers that actually specified wages and working conditions. Neither the employer nor the workers could appeal the decision. The government has no place mandating how much private employers,...

PARIS - President Jacques Chirac on Monday scrapped a controversial part of a youth labor law that triggered massive protests and strikes, bowing to intense pressure from students and unions and dealing a blow to his loyal premier in a bid to end the crisis. Unions celebrated what they called "a great victory," and also were deciding whether to keep up the protests. The top two student union UNEF and FIDL said they would press on with demonstrations Tuesday across France. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who devised the law, had faced down protesters for weeks, insisting that its most...

PARIS - Tens of thousands of protesters poured onto France's streets and striking workers hobbled transport services Tuesday, increasing pressure on embattled Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to withdraw a contested new jobs contract for youths. Cracks opened in his conservative government as public pressure mounted, with Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy suggesting that the contract be suspended to allow talks with unions, in a clear break with Villepin. Paris and other cities deployed thousands of police to prevent a possible resurgence of violence that marred previous demonstrations against the contract, which would make it easier for companies to fire young...

VERNON, Calif. (AP) - Touring a jeans factory that was caught last year underpaying some workers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Friday a new multiagency effort to enforce state labor and tax laws. The governor praised the factory for improving its compliance and said the new enforcement unit will target workplaces in an attempt "to shut down the underground economy." The new unit will not focus on workers' immigration status - which Schwarzenegger called a "different issue" - even as one employee at the factory said in an interview that many of her co-workers were illegal immigrants. The new state budget...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. today signed agreements with Mexico pledging to improve compliance with labor laws and increase safety for Hispanic workers in America. The declaration involving the Labor Department does not include more funding or an increase in inspections and enforcement. Department and Mexican government officials plan to build on existing initiatives aimed at reaching out to employers and Spanish-speaking workers. The Associated Press reports the death toll for Mexican-born workers has soared, with one dying every day on average in the U.S. -- based on federal statistics. In the mid-1990s, Mexicans working in the United States were about...