Posts tagged Appeals Court
Federal appeals court dismisses challenge to Minnesota ban on captive audience meetings
October 2, 2025 // The law largely leaves enforcement to employees, who have the power to sue their bosses if they are forced to attend captive audience meetings. Blissenbach and Ellison said they never threatened to enforce the ban and had no “present intention” to. Gov. Tim Walz was later added as a defendant after he told a packed ballroom at the North America’s Building Trades Unions conference that, “Those captive, anti-union meetings … You go to jail now if you do that in Minnesota because you can’t intimidate people.”
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.
Appeals court clears the way for Trump to fire probationary federal workers once again
April 11, 2025 // Agencies have also begun rolling out their reorganization plans, outlining where they are planning mass layoffs, as directed by the Trump administration. The civil service rules governing reductions in force generally disadvantage employees with shorter tenure in the government. Probationary employees may be among the first to go, though they too must be given proper notice. At some agencies, that's already happening.
Wisconsin Supreme Court won’t hear case seeking to overturn 2011 anti-union law for now
February 18, 2025 // Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost in December ruled that the law violates equal protection guarantees in the Wisconsin Constitution by dividing public employees into “general” and “public safety” employees. Under the ruling, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power would have it restored to what was in place before 2011. The judge put the ruling on hold pending the appeal.
US court upholds Biden minimum wage order for federal contractors
February 5, 2025 // The panel, which reversed a judge in Texas who had blocked Biden's order, said a 1949 federal law allows the president to regulate federal contracting in any way he deems necessary to promote economy and efficiency. The decision upholds an order from Biden, a Democrat, but could be a boon to his Republican successor, President Donald Trump, if he uses his powers over federal procurement to implement other parts of his agenda such as eliminating corporate diversity initiatives.
US court nixes order barring Amazon from firing pro-union workers
June 14, 2024 // The labor board sought the order after Amazon in 2020 fired Gerald Bryson, a union organizer at a warehouse in Staten Island, for making profane comments to a coworker during a protest over an alleged lack of safety measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. District Judge Diane Gujarati in Brooklyn ruled that Bryson's firing violated his rights under U.S. labor law and barred Amazon from terminating other union supporters. But the judge refused to order Amazon to reinstate Bryson, saying there was no evidence that his firing deterred other workers from unionizing. The 2nd Circuit on Wednesday said the requirement that Amazon not fire other workers was unnecessary if there was no evidence that Bryson's firing had a broader impact.
An Appeals Court Shut Down ‘Drive-By’ FLRA Rulings on Midterm Bargaining and Zipper Clauses
January 28, 2022 // A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned the controversial decision, concluding it “miscast” a Supreme Court ruling.