Last Tuesday, May 30, 2023, National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued Memorandum GC 23-08 (the “Memorandum”) on non-compete agreements. According to Abruzzo, non-compete agreements, in general, violate the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). In addition, Abruzzo sets forth her view that the proffer, maintenance, and enforcement of employee non-compete agreements are unlawful under the NLRA.
On Thursday, May 18, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a complaint against the University of Southern California (“USC”), the Pac-12 Conference, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”), alleging that the three employers have continued misclassifying college athletes in men’s and women’s basketball and football as “student-athletes” rather than employees who are entitled to protections under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). If the action is successful, it would reclassify the athletes as employees and allow them to consider forming a union.
Last Wednesday, May 17, 2023, the US Department of Labor (“DOL”) Wage and Hour Division issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2023-2 (the “Bulletin”) to provide guidance on the enforcement of the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”). The PUMP Act was passed on December 29, 2022, by the US Congress. The new law seeks to expand rights for lactating and breastfeeding employees by requiring employers to provide all employees who are nursing with reasonable time and private space to express breast milk.
Former St. John’s University men’s basketball coach, Mike Anderson, is suing the university for $45.6 million, alleging that the university fired him on false grounds. Specifically, he is suing for $11.4 million for the amount remaining on his deal before his termination and $34.2 million in punitive damages.
On Monday, May 5, in Borodaenko v. Twitter, Inc. (“Borodaenko”), a California federal judge mostly dismissed a putative class action alleging Twitter, Inc. of discriminating against employees with disabilities by requiring them to report to the office, put in long hours, and work at high intensity after the mass layoffs in November 2022. One plaintiff’s claims were dismissed, while the other plaintiff’s claims were sent to arbitration.
The Biden Administration has announced that it will be ending most federally mandated COVID-19 vaccination mandates on Thursday, May 11, 2023. Included in the Administration’s vaccine-mandate rollback is the Administration’s much-maligned mandate for federal contractors, which has been subject to challenges in federal court.
This year, in Basith v. Lithia Motors, Inc. (“Basith”) and Fuentes v. Empire Nissan, Inc. (“Fuentes”), the Second Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal (the “Court”) set forth the difference between procedural and substantive unconscionability as the basis for invalidating arbitration agreements. Procedural unconscionability focuses on the fairness of the process leading to the formation of the agreements, while substantive unconscionability focuses on whether the terms of the agreements are so one-sided that it unfairly benefits one of the parties to the agreement. The cases affirm the long-standing rule in California that both procedural and substantive unconscionability must be present to invalidate an arbitration agreement.
Last Tuesday, the US Supreme Court heard an oral argument in Groff v. DeJoy, a case in which the Court is considering whether to overturn decades of precedent established in the 1977 case of TWA v. Hardison (“Hardison”). Hardison established that an employer is not obligated to accommodate an employee’s religion if the accommodation would create more than a “de minimis” burden on the employer’s operations, or an “undue hardship.”
Last month, US Senator Sherrod Brown introduced the Restoring Overtime Pay Act of 2023 (“ROP Act”) in Congress, a bill that seeks to increase the exempt salary threshold, thereby providing overtime protections to many more employees who are currently classified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). If passed, the bill would update the FLSA, which was first enacted in 1938 and has not been significantly amended with respect to minimum wage and overtime exemptions since 2004.
While California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act generally holds employers strictly liable for harassment by a supervisor, the recent decision in Atalla v. Rite Aid Corporation from the Court of Appeal establishes an important limitation for personal relationships between employees.
