Allyn & Fortuna LLPMegan J. Muoio, April 23, 2014. On June 11, 2013, Judge William H. Pauley of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a decision in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures that struck fear into the hearts of employers with unpaid internship programs in New York. The Court ruled that an employer had violated federal and state labor laws by classifying the plaintiffs as unpaid interns rather than employees and that the plaintiffs should have been paid for their work. The Glatt case…
Megan J. Muoio, March 26, 2014 On Tuesday, March 25, 2014, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in one of the most anticipated cases of the 2013-2014 Term – Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, which were consolidated for argument. Both cases concern a challenge by a private, for-profit corporation to the ACA’s mandate that all covered employee health plans provide no-cost pregnancy-related services for women, which includes prescription contraceptives. Hobby Lobby is a national chain of craft stores with…
Megan J. Muoio, February 26, 2014. On February 21, 2014, the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) filed objections with the National Labor Relations Board regarding the union representation election at the Volkswagen facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The effort to unionize the VW plant was supported by both the UAW and Volkswagen, which wanted to set up a works council at the facility. Ultimately, however, the UAW lost the election by a vote of 712 to 626. In its complaint to the NLRB, the…
Megan J. Muoio, January 29, 2014. On January 21, 2014, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Harris v. Quinn, a case that could have an impact on the future of public employee unions. The case involves home-care workers in Illinois who, ten years ago, were permitted to unionize and were classified by the Governor of Illinois as state employees for the purpose of representation by the union. According to the Attorney General of Illinois, the goal of unionization of the home-care workers was to create a professional…
Megan Muoio, July 2, 2013. The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued an important decision regarding Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employers and their agents from discriminating against workers on account of their race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The case, Vance v. Ball State University, involved the question of who qualifies as an agent of the employer in an action for workplace harassment. The Supreme Court in Vance, issued in June 2013, severely limited employers’ liability for the discriminatory acts of supervisory employees whose…