SpaceX Launch A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. The payload is the 17th batch of approximately 60 satellites for SpaceX's Starlink broadband network. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

SpaceX Anti-NLRB Crusade Advances As Judge Grants Block

A Texas federal judge on Wednesday blocked a National Labor Relations Board suit accusing SpaceX of suppressing workers' rights while he weighs the rocket maker's claims that the prosecution is unconstitutional, according to a docket notice.

Trump Transgender Health FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2014, file photo, Jocelyn Samuels speaks in Seattle. Military service, bathroom use, job bias and now health care. The Trump administration is under fire for rewriting a rule barring discrimination in health care due to “gender identity.” Samuels oversaw drafting of the anti-discrimination rule while in the Obama administration, and says it reflected established legal precedent that transgender people are protected under federal sex discrimination laws. “The case law on whether sex discrimination includes gender identity has been pretty clear for quite a while,” said Samuels. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

EEOC Vice Chair Says Muldrow Won't Impede Diversity Work

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Vice Chair Jocelyn Samuels said Wednesday that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Muldrow v. St. Louis should not hinder companies' diversity and inclusion efforts, despite fears the justices' decision opens these initiatives up to more legal attacks.

"A teenager working past 7 p.m. on a school night is not oppressive child labor," Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds wrote in a July 1 letter criticizing the Department of Labor on the issue. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Red State Resistance To DOL Child Labor Enforcement Grows

Republican governors and state legislators are pushing back against the U.S. Department of Labor's attempts to rein in unlawful child labor, a federal effort those at the state level argue is hurting employers.

Expert Analysis

FLSA Conditional Certification Is Alive And Well In 4th Circ.

Joshua Adams and Damón Gray

A North Carolina federal court's recent decision in Johnson v. PHP emphasized continued preference by courts in th... (more story)

Colo. Ruling Adopts 'Actual Discharge' Test For The First Time

Michael Laszlo

After a Colorado court’s recent decision in Potts v. Gaia Children, adopting for the first time a test for evaluat... (more story)

It's Time For Nationwide Race-Based Hair Protections

Samone Ijoma and Erica Roberts

While 24 states have passed laws that prohibit race-based hair discrimination, this type of bias persists in workp... (more story)

Labor More

Biden Floats $2B To Drive US Auto Industry's EV Pivot

The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled its latest initiative to bolster domestic automotive production by offering nearly $2 billion in grants to convert 11 auto manufacturing and assembly facilities th... (more story)

X Coder Fired For Tweet Not Protected, NLRB Judge Says

A software engineer terminated by Twitter, now known as X Corp., was a supervisor when she tweeted that workers should let Elon Musk fire them for working remotely and thus can't challenge her termination as a... (more story)

A Fifth Circuit panel knocked the NLRB for using a remand proceeding to abandon a test from a 2020 decision and restore a previous framework for considering whether workers' outbursts are protected under federal labor law. (iStock.com/Rex_Wholster)
NLRB Outburst Order Violated Due Process, 5th Circ. Says

The National Labor Relations Board must reconsider its decision changing the analysis of whether worker outbursts are protected under federal labor law, the Fifth Circuit ruled, finding the board violated a co... (more story)

​GOP Bombards Agencies With Demands After Chevron's End

Republican leaders of major congressional committees Wednesday demanded details from dozens of agencies on policies suddenly shrouded in uncertainty after U.S. Supreme Court conservatives overturned the so-cal... (more story)

Carmaker's Discovery Request Narrowed In NLRB Dispute

An Arizona federal judge cleared an electric car manufacturer to move forward with the discovery process in an injunction dispute with the National Labor Relations Board, holding that the company can request s... (more story)

Starbucks Questions NLRB Constitutionality After ALJ Ruling

Starbucks fought an agency judge's ruling over the termination of a union supporter in Michigan with claims that the National Labor Relations Board's structure violates the U.S. Constitution, challenging remov... (more story)

Teamsters Lose 3rd Circ. Fight Over Belated Wage Grievance

The Third Circuit on Wednesday issued a rare opinion declining to enforce a union's arbitration win, saying a Teamsters unit waited too long to challenge a cemetery operator's read of their new contract's raise language.

Discrimination More

Atty Says Alaska Judge Reprimand Bolsters 4th Circ. Bias Suit

A former public defender awaiting a bench ruling on her sexual harassment claims against the federal judiciary said Wednesday that the judge deciding her case should note a recent ruling reprimanding an Alaska... (more story)

UMB Fired VP After Denying Further Cancer Leave, Suit Says

UMB Financial Corp. fired an executive for requesting more time to recover from chemotherapy treatments, according to a suit filed in Colorado federal court, after she was made to work 12-hour days in preparat... (more story)

Other states are following Colorado’s lead in enacting legislation regulating artificial intelligence in the workplace. (iStock.com/Dragon Claws)
4 State AI Bills To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2024

After Colorado recently moved to the forefront of regulating artificial intelligence in the workplace, numerous other states across the ideological spectrum — including conservative bastions like Oklahoma — ar... (more story)

7th Circ. Won't Renew Honeywell DEI Video White Bias Suit

The Seventh Circuit refused Wednesday to revive a former Honeywell engineer's claims he was unlawfully fired after he declined to watch a diversity, equity and inclusion training film that he claimed vilified ... (more story)

Salt Co. CEO, Worker Settle Suit Over Spurned Affair

A Seattle-area gourmet sea salt company has settled a discrimination suit by an employee who says she was demoted and ostracized when she rejected sexual advances from its founder and CEO, who allegedly tried ... (more story)

X Corp., Musk Dodge $500M Severance Suit

X Corp. and Elon Musk can escape claims they owe former employees $500 million in severance following the business mogul's purchase of the social platform formerly known as Twitter, a California federal judge ... (more story)

Former Conn. Top Public Defender Claims Bias Led To Ouster

The former chief public defender in Connecticut has filed a second action challenging her June 4 ouster for misconduct, lodging an administrative appeal in state court that claims racial bias.

Wage & Hour More

Texas Court Severs Constable Workers From OT Collective

A Texas federal court granted Harris County Sheriff's Department deputies' request to cut several employees from the constable's office from their proposed collective action accusing the department of shorting... (more story)

9th Circ. Says Nev. Call Center Agents' Bootup Warrants Trial

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday revived, for a second time, call center agents' collective action alleging the time spent turning on and off their computers before their shifts is payable under the Fair Labor S... (more story)

The DOL can’t get a Mississippi federal judge to reconsider his ruling ordering the agency to identify migrant workers who participated in an investigation into a fish farm’s labor practices. (Jill Brady/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
DOL Can't Stop Discovery Disclosures In Fishery Wage Suit

The U.S. Department of Labor didn't show how a Mississippi federal court erred in ordering the agency to turn over the identities of some migrant workers who participated in the department's investigation of a... (more story)

Performer Hits Atlanta Drag Bar With Wages Class Action

A performer at Lips Restaurant Atlanta LLC, a bar that provides drag show entertainment to diners and patrons, has filed a proposed class action against the restaurant, its owners and its general manager for a... (more story)

7th Circ. Passes On Look At 2-Step Cert. Process, For Now

A Seventh Circuit panel turned down pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co.'s challenge to an Indiana federal court's decision to grant collective certification in an age discrimination suit, but said it would ... (more story)

Dallas Card Dealer Collective Certified In Tip Suit

A Texas federal judge certified a collective of card dealers for a Dallas poker club who alleged they were paid below minimum wage because they were forced to share their tips with managers, finding Tuesday th... (more story)

Amazon Judge Offers To Quit COVID Pay Case

A Colorado federal judge urged Amazon and workers suing the company over unpaid COVID-19 screenings to file briefs on whether he should recuse himself from the case, disclosing that his son works for what he b... (more story)