Posts tagged back pay
For federal employees, remote work ought to be exception, not rule
February 9, 2025 // But the public sector is a different ballgame. Whereas most private sector employees can be fired at any time and for any reason, the process for firing federal workers is intentionally onerous. Federal employees' right to "due process" means that employers must give them a 30-day advance notice and explanation of alleged misconduct before a termination can go into effect. Federal employees then have the right to appeal the firing to an independent agency, retain independent counsel, file a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, and then be reinstated with back pay and benefits should the appeal succeed.
Musk Wins Appeal Over Tweet He Had to Delete About Union Push
October 28, 2024 // Friday’s ruling arose from an incident in 2017 when Mr. Ortiz was involved in an effort to unionize the Tesla plant in Fremont, Calif. As part of the campaign, he posted screen shots of co-workers who opposed unionization on a private Facebook page. When an investigator for Tesla questioned Mr. Ortiz about the photos, he said he couldn’t remember where he had gotten them, which he later acknowledged was a lie. Tesla then fired him, with lying cited as the cause. A labor board investigation found that Mr. Ortiz had been fired because of his unionization campaign, not because of his false statement.
California collects millions in stolen wages, but can’t find many workers to pay them
October 6, 2024 // The state Labor Commissioner sometimes struggles to get back pay to workers when it reaches wage theft settlements. It tries social media, TV and hotlines. But money owed to employees is still sitting in state accounts.
Color Of Change ordered to reinstate illegally laid off workers and pay back wages after NLRB Ruling
September 27, 2024 // Color Of Change, one of the nation’s largest racial justice nonprofits, illegally laid off workers in mid 2023, but the NLRB found that the organization, represented by Seyfarth Shaw, did not meet its obligation to notify and bargain with the union before taking action. It’s illegal for organizations to lay off workers after they unionize prior to winning a first contract, a period called status quo.
Alaska Airlines reaches tentative labor deal with flight attendants
June 24, 2024 // The deal likely contains a significant pay raise, which has been a common demand across the airline industry and sought by unions whose members in some cases have not seen a pay increase in years. In April, the union announced to members it was seeking pay raises of between 43% to 56%, depending upon seniority, through 2026. Those pay raises would include back pay covering a period dating back a year and a half that they’ve worked under the terms of the previous contract.
Op-Ed: The Supreme Court Ruling in the Starbucks Case Proves the Law Won’t Save Labor
June 17, 2024 // As a union organizer and Starbucks worker, I’ve seen the effects of corporate retaliation up close. In December 2020, I took a job at the Elmwood Avenue Starbucks in Buffalo, with the goal of unionizing my workplace. A year later, our store voted to become the first unionized corporate Starbucks location in the United States, sparking a wave of organizing across the company. In response to our union campaign, Starbucks unleashed a union-busting effort that began with managers and executives swarming our stores in Buffalo and escalated to firings (including my own), store closings, and the withholding of new benefits, like seniority pay and credit card tipping, from unionized stores nationwide.
VIDEO: Union boss punched in the face after annoying siren deployed during protest
March 12, 2024 // A fight broke out on a picket line last week in front of a downtown federal office building when striking custodians accused a woman of punching a union leader. The altercation happened in front of a federal government office building at 630 Sansome St., where janitors employed there have been on strike since last week. The custodians, who are members of Service Employees International Union Local 87, said the skirmish took place around 7 p.m. on Wednesday after the woman, an employee who works in the building, came out and confronted the striking janitors for playing a loud siren from a bullhorn.
East Bay-Area Fire Safety Inspector Prevails in Case Against IUOE Union for Illegal Firing
January 8, 2024 // In October, Le filed federal charges at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 32 in Oakland, CA, stating that IUOE union officials illegally demanded she join the union as a condition of keeping her job and instigated her firing by CTS when she refused to join. Le, who works in fire and life safety as a firestop inspector, also noted in her charges that IUOE officials failed to inform her of her right to abstain from formal union membership, and never notified her of her right to pay a reduced amount of union dues as a nonmember. According to her charges, company and union officials began deducting full union dues directly from her paycheck without her permission, and deducted a dues amount that included union political expenses and other costs not legally chargeable to workers who aren’t formal union members.
UAW secures nearly $8M in back pay
December 13, 2023 // According to a July 2022 letter, also on the UAW’s website, the union was informed that month an arbitrator determined GM violated its national agreement with the union when it closed the plants; the decision, the letter states, was an “important victory.” It states as a result of GM’s breach, the arbitrator found that certain members who kept working with the company at other locations, but experienced some period of layoff were entitled to be made whole. The award does not resolve an issue over mutually satisfied retirement for members the arbitrator previously found was not subject to arbitration, but the Dec. 5 letter states “we continue to fight for MSR’s for all eligible members.”
Federal judge upholds ouster of Boilermakers union president by his own top executives
August 23, 2023 // In what he called a preliminary ruling from the bench, Chief Judge Eric F. Melgren, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, upheld a June 2 decision by the union’s top executives to remove Jones as president. “As of that day, Mr. Jones was removed from office,” Melgren said. The judge said he would issue a final, written ruling on the issue within the week. After the hearing, members of the union’s executive council said they’d unanimously elected former International Vice President Warren Fairley, who retired in February, to be the union’s new leader.