On March 24, 2023, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law two significant pieces of legislation amending Michigan labor laws: Public Act (“PA”) 9 (2023), and its private sector equivalent, PA 8 (2023). Together, both...more
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 landmark ruling in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018), which made it illegal for public sector labor unions to...more
In an August 28, 2020, opinion, a sharply divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit joined a growing consensus of federal appellate courts in recognizing the good-faith defense to claims of restitution...more
On Tuesday, seven elected officials from various local government bodies challenged a recently enacted California state law that prohibits a public employer from “deter[ing] or discourag[ing] public employees from becoming or...more
Earlier this month, the Seventh Circuit joined the consensus across the country, concluding in two separate cases that unions that collected fair share fees prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, 585,...more
Five In-Home Supportive Service (“IHSS”) providers filed a class-action lawsuit last month challenging their union’s practice of deducting union dues despite their quitting the union. The workers allege their First Amendment...more
The Iowa Supreme Court released five eagerly awaited opinions upholding the 2017 amendments to the Public Employment Relations Act (PERA). The main case on which the four other companion cases relied was American Federation...more
In Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, No. 16-1466 (June 27, 2018), the Supreme Court of the United States significantly expanded the rights of nonunion public employees by...more
On February 22, 2018, in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus that fair share fees for public sector employees are unconstitutional, the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, filed a lawsuit...more
1.National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairman John Ring has announced that revisions to the Board’s election rules are a “long-term” action item. This may indicate the revisions to the Obama-era election rules (in effect...more
Labor friendly states will likely be looking for opportunities to lessen the financial blow of the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME. The Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Interpipe Contracting v. Becerra just...more
On the final day of the Supreme Court’s just-completed term, it issued its long-awaited decision in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, changing the labor law landscape as we know it. The case involved the compulsory “fair share”...more
It did not take long; on June 13, 2018, a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York challenging amendments to the New York Civil Service Law that were designed to...more
As of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, state laws requiring public sector collective bargaining agreements to contain agency shop...more
The United States Supreme Court concluded its 2017-2018 term with a bang, issuing decisions in several highly publicized cases impacting labor and employment, including Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis and Janus v. AFSCME. This...more
The decades-long battle over union security faces two important pivot points during the summer of 2018. On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States handed unions a major defeat in the season’s first major fight. ...more
On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States announced its decision in a case that tested the constitutionality of requiring mandatory payment of “fair share” union dues to be paid by non-member public sector...more
It appears that a number of labor unions are planning for the potential negative impact of a big decision regarding fair share fees. We have heard from several public sector clients who have been contacted directly, or who...more
Just last week on February 26th, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in Janus v. AFSCME, a case in the Court’s 2017 term with a potential of adversely impacting the viability and influence of public sector unions....more
NLRB Returns to Amorphous Joint-Employer Standard. Talk about policy oscillation: the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) joint-employer recusal debacle continued this week, perhaps coming to an abrupt end (for now). ...more
Did Halloween come early this year? Well it just may have for Connecticut’s public-sector unions. On September 28th, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and...more
As we previously reported, in July 2015, the United States Supreme Court decided to hear an appeal of a case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit regarding the legality of “fair share” fees for public...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Janus v. Am. Fed'n of State, Cty. & Mun. Employees, Council 31 to decide whether it is constitutional to require public employees to pay agency fees (also known as "fair share"...more
On September 28, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in two cases with labor and employment implications. - In the first case, Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31...more
In a move that must have labor unions across the country trembling with fear, the Supreme Court today announced that it will once again take up the issue of whether public sector agency shop fee arrangements are prohibited by...more