The Labor & Employment Blog is a forum for practitioners and Bloomberg BNA editors to share ideas, raise issues, and network with colleagues.
June 22, 2012
by Michael Rose
While the nation eagerly awaits the Supreme Court's decision any day now determining the fate of President Obama's health care overhaul law, other decisions are trickling out, including in one lower-profile case this week that represents a new element of what Justice Stephen Breyer, in a dissent, called "an ongoing, intense public debate" about collective bargaining and union membership in both the public and private sectors.
June 20, 2012
by Louis C. LaBrecque
At a recent event held at the Partnership for Public Service's Washington, D.C., headquarters, representatives of the American Enterprise Institute, the Federal Salary Council, and the Congressional Budget Office offered very different views on whether or not federal employees are paid too much.
June 18, 2012
by Lydell C. Bridgeford
Bloomberg BNA recently spoke with Shirley J. Wilcher, who oversaw the Office of Federal Compliance Programs during the Clinton Administration, about the underlying factors that drive regulatory reforms to ensure federal contractors meet their affirmative action obligations.
June 15, 2012
by Patrick Dorrian
Can a single discriminatory remark by an employee about a co-worker by itself create a hostile work environment under federal or state law? Should it? Can discriminatory actions occurring outside of the workplace be considered part of a hostile work environment? Should they be?
June 13, 2012
by Robert Combs
In the six years since breaking away from the AFL-CIO, how has Change to Win stacked up in the race to organize workers? Representation statistics from the National Labor Relations Board tell a rather balanced story.
June 8, 2012
Supporters of organized labor were dealt a major blow this week, when a largely union-funded effort to unseat Wisconsin's Republican governor, Scott Walker, failed in a recall election. In a vote widely seen as a referendum on Walker's anti-union policies, voters kept him in office by a margin of 7 percentage points over his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.
June 7, 2012
In my last post, I analyzed statistics from the 2012 edition of Bloomberg BNA’s Union Membership and Earnings Data Book to find the state with the largest percentage of union members among its population. This time, using the same source, I’m looking for the city that holds the same distinction. Which of the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas has the greatest union density?
June 6, 2012
For an agency with the seemingly humdrum role of helping the federal government with its real estate, space planning, office equipment, and transportation needs, the General Services Administration in recent months seems to be involved in a lot of scandals.
June 4, 2012
Terisa E. Chaw, executive director of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), discusses why her organization is closely monitoring the Eighth Circuit's EEOC v. CRST Van Expedited Inc. case and class action strategies post-Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Dukes.
June 1, 2012
Recently, the issue of "but-for" evidence in discrimination cases has returned to forefront. The Supreme Court’s 2009 decision Gross v. FBL Financial Services Inc., seems to have brought a renewed focus on the issue of causation in cases litigated under the various federal employment discrimination statutes. Recent decisions by the D.C. and Sixth circuits lead this EEO roundup.
Labor Stats and Facts: Seven Surprising Facts About Health Care Bargaining
EEO Roundup: EEOC Nomination, House Testimony
Public Sector Roundup: OPM Issues `Phased Retirement' Proposal to Allow Part-Time Work for Future Federal Retirees
EEO Roundup: Valuing Employment Discrimination Claims
Public Sector Roundup: Legislation to Require OPM to Track Union 'Official Time' Approved by House Panel