Posts tagged Administrative Procedure Act
Workers in North Carolina and California Ask Federal Labor Board to Nix Policy Letting Union Bosses Block Elections
January 6, 2026 // The workers, which include miners employed by The Quartz Corp. in Spruce Pine, NC, and Fresno, CA-based construction materials workers for CalPortland, both backed petitions in late 2025 asking the NLRB to administer votes to remove (or “decertify”) unions from their workplaces. Despite both petitions containing enough signatures to trigger union decertification elections, regional NLRB officials blocked both votes pursuant to the NLRB’s current blocking charge policy. This Biden-era policy permits union officials to stymie the union decertification process simply by filing unproven or unrelated “unfair labor practice” charges at the NLRB alleging employer misconduct. Quartz Corp. employee Blake Davis and CalPortland worker Darrell Dunlap have both submitted Requests for Review to the NLRB in Washington, DC.
Federal Judge Denies Anonymity To Fired Civil Servants Suing Over Mass Firings
October 9, 2025 // A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has denied a request from five former federal employees, who claim they were improperly terminated during a "mass firing" in February 2025, to proceed with their lawsuit anonymously. The plaintiffs, identified only as Civil Servants 1 through 5, are suing the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), alleging the agency unlawfully closed thousands of prohibited personnel practice (PPP) complaints filed by probationary employees without considering the individual merits of each case. They contend this action undermines workplace protections and violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
New lawsuit scrutinizes Hegseth’s implementation of Trump’s anti-union EO
July 30, 2025 // While previous lawsuits argued simply that President Trump’s citation of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act’s so-called “national security exemption” en masse violated federal regulatory law, a new suit from IFPTE drills down on the Defense secretary’s implementation of the controversial edict.
Federal government reverses course on Florida union law, appeals court holds lawsuit
June 16, 2025 // An appeals court Tuesday put on hold a lawsuit that Florida filed against the federal government, after the Trump administration reversed course on a controversial 2023 state law that placed restrictions on public-employee unions. The law included a series of restrictions, including preventing most public employees from having dues deducted from their paychecks and requiring unions to be recertified as bargaining agents if fewer than 60% of eligible employees pay dues. The lawsuit deals with interplay between the state law (SB 256) and a longstanding federal law designed to ensure that transit workers’ collective-bargaining rights are protected before federal transit money is provided to local agencies.
Chicago-Area Chemical Plant Worker Asks National Labor Board to End Policy Letting Union Bosses Trap Workers in Unions
May 9, 2025 // Employees submitted valid petition requesting vote to remove Teamsters union, but union bosses manipulated unproven charges against employer to block vote
Union sues DHS to protect TSA screeners’ collective bargaining rights
March 18, 2025 // The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of violating the Administrative Procedure Act’s prohibition on “arbitrary and capricious” decision-making, as well as breaching their contractual obligations under the 2024 collective bargaining agreement and in so doing, violating union members’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment. The union also brings a First Amendment claim, arguing that the Trump administration’s decision to revoke TSA screeners’ collective bargaining rights was in retaliation for the union’s other lawsuits against the executive branch, most notably their challenge of the mass firing of probationary workers across government. A federal judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction in that case, requiring agencies to reinstate tens of thousands of improperly terminated workers.
Texas Judge Enjoins NLRB From Proceeding Against SpaceX, Casting Further Doubt on NLRB’s Constitutionality
July 31, 2024 // If the lawsuits ultimately succeed and the NLRB is dismantled in whole or in part, we may see a dramatic transformation of the way union organizing, elections, and worker and union disputes are decided under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). We will continue to monitor developments in these cases, as well as the expected wave of challenges to the NLRB’s rules and positions.
How changes to ‘noncompete’ agreements and overtime could affect workers
April 26, 2024 // They’ll also have to determine how they will budget for the extra pay for overtime. Small businesses will have the toughest time. “Some are going to have to cut workers,” Hollis said. “Others will have to cut hours from existing workers. “Some are going to have to raise prices, and some probably won’t be able to figure out a way to make it economically work and wind up having to shut down, unfortunately.”
Everything You Need to Know About the Department of Labor Independent Contractor Rule
March 12, 2024 // The DOL does not provide an analysis of how many independent contractors will actually become employees. Let’s say a company is contracting with 100 photographers, all of whom are affected by this rule: how many of those photographers will become employees? It’s clearly not all 100 of them. To unpack the potential benefits (and costs) on workers, we need some analysis into how many of those 100 freelance photographers would become employees. Another consideration for the benefits side of the equation is whether most independent contractors are currently working with small businesses or larger ones. This matters because, as I point out in a previous post, many small businesses do not provide healthcare insurance, retirement benefits, or maternity benefits to their employees. This means that the “benefits” differences between an independent contractor and an employee at a small business are smaller than expected.
Trucking Companies Seek to Delay Contractor Rule Effective Date
March 9, 2024 //