Nicholas Fortuna, April 29, 2014. On April 22, 2014, in the case Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-2 to uphold a voter referendum outlawing affirmative action at Michigan’s public universities. In five separate opinions, the justices set out starkly conflicting views. The majority more or less said that policies affecting minorities that do not involve intentional discrimination should be decided by the voters not judges. Seven other states, including California, Arizona, and Florida have already stopped using preferences for racial minorities…

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Nicholas Fortuna, March 19, 2014. The Occupational, Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is charged with issuing standards to protect workers’ safety on the job. Employers are required to know and follow the applicable rules, regulations, and standards affecting their industry/workplace and supply all necessary safety equipment to protect their employees. Even if there is no specific standard, rule or regulation pertaining to an employer’s workplace, there is a general duty requirement to keep employees and the workplace free from hazards. Any employer in the United States and its…

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Nicholas Fortuna, February 21, 2014. The National Labor Relations Board, which is charged with enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, has recently been moving aggressively to regulate both union and non-union workplaces. The NLRB issued 19 decisions in January 2014, compared to 17 decisions in the previous five months combined. The agency is introducing regulations to streamline the union election process and expanding its jurisdiction over religious universities as to whether certain university faculty members can unionize. The expectation is that the Board will continue to use its…

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Nicholas Fortuna, January 22, 2014. Arbitration Favored Over Class/Collective Action Mandatory arbitration agreements in the employment setting gathered steam this year. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant held that mandatory arbitration agreements with explicit waivers of the right to bring a class or collective action are enforceable notwithstanding federal common law and federal statutes to the contrary (i.e. National Labor Relations Act). The Courts of Appeals have universally upheld the waivers and enforced employment arbitration agreements. This is true even when…

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Nicholas Fortuna, January 2, 2014. In the last three weeks, two federal judges differed widely on the constitutionality and effectiveness of the National Security Agency program that collects data on virtually every call made to, from or within the United States. The N.S.A.’s bulk telephony metadata collection program was found to be constitutional in the Case ACLU v. Clapper, decided by federal Judge William H. Pauly III in New York. This decision comes a mere 11 days after federal Judge Richard J. Leon in Washington decided Klayman v….

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