Workforce Bulletin

My colleague Steven M. Swirsky published “Teamsters and Technology II – Labor’s “Silicon Valley Rising” Campaign” which is a follow-up to “Teamsters and Technology: Developing Labor Issues for Technology Industry Employers.” Both blog posts are published on Epstein Becker Green’s Management Memo and we think the topic is timely and of particular interest to Technology Employment Law subscribers:

Following is an excerpt:

Last week we reported on the fact that Teamsters Local 853 and Loop Transportation had completed negotiations for a first collective ...

On September 13, 2013, the Obama Administration rejected the union movement's intense lobbying efforts to seek a waiver, so that their members would be able to receive tax subsidies in the Affordable Care Act ("ACA") Marketplaces for those of their members who will be offered "affordable coverage" from their employers.

by: Adam C. Abrahms, James S. Frank, Kara M. Maciel, and Steven M. Swirsky

President Obama has taken action designed to bolster the National Labor Relations Board’s continuing move to bolster unions and take the National Labor Relations Act further into non-union workplaces. On April 9, 2013, President Obama announced his plan to submit three more nominees to serve the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”). If these and the two other pending nominations are confirmed this would bring the NLRB to its full complement of five Members. 

These new nominations – who must be ...

By Paul Burmeister* 

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) has ruled that negotiations between the Hotel Bel-Air and UNITE HERE Local 11 were not at impasse when the employer implemented its last, best final offer, which included severance payments to union employees. Hotel Bel-Air, 358 NLRB 152 (September 27, 2012). The NLRB upheld the ALJ’s order for the employer to bargain with the Union and to rescind all the signed severance agreements containing a waiver of future employment with the Hotel Bel-Air.

The Hotel Bel-Air is a luxury hotel located in Los Angeles. The Hotel ...

By Paul H. Burmeister

The OSHA/Hyatt Hotels saga continued with a recent exchange of letters between OSHA and the hotel chain’s attorney.  In April, OSHA issued a “5(a)(1) letter” to the CEO of Hyatt Hotels, indicating that OSHA believed there were ergonomic risks associated with the daily work activities of the company’s housekeeping staff.  The letter put the hotel chain “on notice” that while OSHA did not believe that a “recognized hazard” existed at the  time of the inspection, such that a General Duty Clause citation should issue, if the same hazard was later ...

By: Paul Rosenberg

On December 9, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (“the Court”) refused to enforce a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) decision that a hotel unlawfully suspended hospitality workers who engaged in a work stoppage.  Fortuna Enters. LP v. NLRB, D.C. Cir., No. 10-1272 (December 9, 2011).  In this case, UNITE HERE – the largest hospitality union in the country – was seeking to organize employees of the hotel. While the union organizing drive was ongoing, the hotel suspended an employee pending an investigation into whether ...

By:  Kara M. Maciel

On August 25, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) adopted a final rule to require all employers to post a notice of employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). The required posting provides information to employees about the right to organize a union, bargain collectively, and engage in protected concerted activity – as well as the right to refrain from such activity. Significantly, this posting requirement is required for all hospitality employers – large and small -- regardless of whether your operations are ...

By: Jay P. Krupin and Kara M. Maciel

Last week, on November 9, 2010, housekeepers employed by Hyatt Hotels filed complaints with OSHA alleging injuries sustained on the job. The complaints were filed in eight cities across the country, including Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Long Beach, San Antonio, Honolulu and Indianapolis.  Similar OSHA actions may occur in Boston, NYC, DC, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Miami, and Orlando with higher concentrations of hotel properties. This is the first time that employees of a single private employer have filed multi-city OSHA complaints, and it ...