On July 21, 2021, in a 3-1 decision, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) ruled that a union does not violate federal labor law with the display of the infamous “Scabby the Rat,” and other similar inflatable symbols, at workplaces that do not employ those union’s workers.   Former NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb, a Trump appointee, had long attempted to kill off Scabby, arguing that using the balloons at secondary protests was an unlawful attempt…

In a closely-watched case that may be a preview of other court decisions involving COVID-vaccination mandates for students returning to school and employees returning to the workplace, a federal district court has denied a request to enjoin Indiana University’s COVID-19 vaccine policy for students. The policy includes a requirement that students provide documentation proving that they have been vaccinated – a so-called “vaccine passport.” A group of eight students had alleged that the public school’s…

On July 21, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced that a wide range of government contractors would be required to pay private sector employees at least $15 per hour, in a plan to carry out President Joe Biden’s executive order signed this past April.  Our blog post about President Biden’s executive order requiring the wage increase can be found here. The new wage floor is set to take effect on new or…

On March 29, 2021, the City of Philadelphia enacted an ordinance providing for paid Public Health Emergency Leave (PHEL). Our blog post on the requirements of the leave can be found here. That leave requirement is now expired and employers no longer need to provide this leave. The PHEL’s sunset provision tied its expiration specifically to the rescission or expiration of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Proclamation of Disaster Emergency. However, “public health emergency” was defined…

Within hours of his inauguration, President Biden broke with tradition by firing the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after he refused to resign.  Some companies have claimed that this decision was improper and left the acting General Counsel named in his place without legal authority to act, setting up an anticipated wave of legal challenges. In the first court decision to address the issue, a New Jersey federal judge in Goonan…

In October 2020, Pennsylvania regulations took effect that increased the salary threshold for exempt employees to the federal level, and would have increased the threshold above the federal minimum beginning in October 2021. However, a recent budget compromise between Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and a Republican-led state legislature has resulted in the regulations’ repeal. As a result, employers can continue to treat employees as exempt if they satisfy the existing Fair Labor Standards Act…

On July 9, 2021, the White House issued an executive order (“EO”) with the stated objective of countering anti-competitive forces throughout the economy.  One specific directive is the limitation of non-compete agreements, which include not only restrictive covenants, but also “other clauses or agreements that may unfairly limit worker mobility.”  Potentially, this could include customer and employee non-solicitation provisions, which some courts construe in the same manner as employee restrictive covenants.  Such agreements today are…