The Fourth Circuit has published opinions in three labor and employment cases in recent weeks.  The first case, Sepulveda v. Allen Family Foods, Inc., concerned a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action that was brought on behalf of a class of current and former employees of a chicken processing plant.  The employees claimed, among other things, that the company had violated the FLSA by not compensating them for time spent donning and doffing their protective gear before and after their shifts.  There is a specific exception in FLSA for cases regarding compensable time for “changing clothes” when the employees are represented by a union that has negotiated a collective bargaining unit.  The Court held that putting on and taking off protecting gear was “changing clothes,” so the exception applied because these plaintiffs had a union, and so judgment was rightly granted to the employer.

Read more…

Categories: Judicial Decisions Tags: Case Commentary, Collective Action, Concerted Activity, FLSA, Fourth Circuit, Labor and Employment, NLRB, Retaliation, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Union, Wage and Hour

As part of the Committee on Practice and Procedure under the NLRA (Southern Region (Region VIII) of the ABA’s Labor and Employment Section), Mike Okun helped organize the annual discussion between the labor bar and the NLRB Region 11’s Director, attorneys, and staff.   At today’s meeting at the NLRB office in Winston-Salem, we had the good fortune to be joined by John E. Higgins, Jr, currently the agency’s Deputy General Counsel, who filled us in on developments at the national level, including the NLRB’s work with only two board members and the potential effects of EFCA.

Categories: News of the Firm Tags: ABA, EFCA, Labor and Employment, Michael Okun, NLRB, Union

Family-Friendly Workplaces: Do Unions Make a Difference?, written by Jennifer MacGillvary of the Labor Center at the University of California-Berkeley and Netsy Firestein of the Labor Project for Working Families, concludes the unions lead to workplaces that, through policy and practice, promote a healthy and viable balance between work life and home life.   Significantly, the study finds that unions increase compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act, ensure paid sick leave for employees and their children, and increase the likelihood that health care is covered for families.

Categories: General News Tags: Family and Medical Leave Act, FMLA, Health Care, Labor and Employment, Study, Union

The United Steelworkers (USW) announced that workers overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year agreement covering about10,000 union members at seven Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. plants, including the plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  The new pact provides job security and maintains quality, affordable health care for the union members.  It also provides for a commitment by Goodyear to invest $600 million in the plants, keeping them up to date and globally competitive.

Categories: General News Tags: Contract, Goodyear, Health Care, Labor and Employment, Union, USW

Senator Arlen Specter has released more details on the EFCA compromise he has been working on, and also declared his confidence that he had 60 votes for the bill.  Instead of the majority sign-up provision, the bill would provide for quicker union elections with some sort of equal-time requirements.  And, the binding arbitration would be adjusted to use baseball-style arbitration, i.e. the arbitrator has to pick one of the final offers of the parties.

Categories: Legislative Action Tags: Congress, EFCA, Labor, Labor and Employment, Union

A new study, “Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers,” shows that employers routinely violate the employment rights  of low wage workers, with frequent violations of the wage and hour laws, workers’ compensation laws, and anti-retaliation protections.  (The original study is here; a summary of the study is here.)  Here are some of the startling findings:

• 68 percent of the workers interviewed had experienced at least one pay-related violation in the previous work week, including failures to pay earned wages, at least minimum wage, or overtime pay.
• 26 percent of the workers had been paid less than the minimum wage the week before being surveyed and that one in seven had worked off the clock the previous week.
• 76 percent of those who had worked overtime the week before were not paid their proper overtime. Read more…

Categories: General News Tags: Labor and Employment, Minimum Wage, Overtime, Retaliation, Union, Wage and Hour, Workers' Compensation

Here’s the latest update on the Senate negotiations on EFCA.  As expected, it comes down to figuring out what the moderate Democrats in the Senate will support.  For more information of the various parts of the bill, see Narendra’s paper on the NLRA and EFCA.

Categories: Legislative Action Tags: Congress, EFCA, Labor and Employment, Narendra Ghosh, Union

Michael Okun and Valerie Johnson taught at the annual labor school put on by the North Carolina AFL-CIO State Federation, which was held at UNC Wilmington.  Mike teaches the bulk of the program, which introduces union workers and leaders to labor law and related legal topics.  Valerie teaches the session on workers’ compensation.

Categories: News of the Firm Tags: AFL-CIO, Labor and Employment, Michael Okun, Union, Valerie Johnson, Workers' Compensation

The Fourth Circuit affirms the granting of some injunctive relief to remedy, after much delay, very serious labor violations by a mining company in NLRB v. Spartan Mining Company.  The company had illegal discriminated against members of the United Mine Workers.

Categories: Judicial Decisions Tags: Case Commentary, Fourth Circuit, Labor and Employment, UMWA, Union

Smithfield Packing Company and the bargaining committee of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1208 reached a tentative agreement on a first contract for the workers at the Tar Heel pork processing facility.   More coverage is avaliable here, which recounts the union’s efforts and the company’s at times illegal opposition over the years.

Categories: General News Tags: Labor and Employment, North Carolina, UFCW, Union