Posts tagged paid sick leave
Employees of DC Paint-Your-Own Pottery Studio Vote to Unionize
May 14, 2026 // The employees of the Cleveland Park paint-your-own pottery studio All Fired Up have voted to unionize. The staffers began a campaign to formally unionize in early April, and they voted to do so during a National Labor Relations Board election Monday. The decision was unanimous, staffer Toni Lewis tells Washingtonian. “Unionization gives us a formal role in shaping policy and process,” the employees’ organizing committee’s members—who said staffers were inspired by similar efforts at Crumbs and Whiskers cat cafe in Georgetown and Aslin Beer Company—wrote in a statement. “As a small business without HR, we need a way to advocate for our needs.”
Op-ed: The right’s growing crackup over organized labor
May 14, 2026 // In the face of its growing crackup over organized labor, the Right is badly in need of developing a labor policy that is pro-worker without being pro-union. The best bet would be to coalesce around a flexible work agenda that empowers workers to achieve autonomy and agency in their employment arrangements. This policy agenda could take many different forms, but it might include championing the independent contracting status of gig workers while simultaneously expanding so-called portable benefit models that provide these workers with funds to access workplace benefits. This provides a more nimble, nuanced alternative to reclassifying them as employees or unionizing them. Or right-leaning politicians could seek to address issues like just-in-time scheduling, a common sore spot for workers in many industries, by striking a grand bargain with the business community regarding overtime averaging. By focusing on flexibility rather than cribbing the union political playbook, the Right can take a pro-worker stance without needing to fully repudiate its pro-business instincts.
Op-Ed: Instead of subsidy fights, Georgia should allow ‘portable’ benefits
October 20, 2025 // Meanwhile, other states have taken the lead on the matter. Utah, Tennessee and Alabama have all formally recognized portable benefits as a form of independent contractor compensation. Georgia can be next by passing a safe harbor portable benefits model, which will cost the state and federal government zero taxpayer dollars. It simply clarifies that companies can contribute to portable benefits accounts if they want and doing so is not evidence of an employee/employer relationship.
GOP senator, labor secretary visit Louisiana alligator farm touting new pro-worker legislation
August 16, 2025 // Fresh off helping pass that bill, Cassidy is championing his pro-worker legislation, the Unlocking Benefits for Independent Workers Act, introduced last month with senators Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Rand Paul, R-Ky. The bill seeks to modernize federal labor laws, granting gig workers and independent contractors access to health benefits, paid sick leave and retirement plans, among other provisions.
Dems have been bleeding working-class support. Now possible 2028 contenders are fighting with unions.
July 24, 2025 // High-profile Democratic governors fighting the Trump administration are also mired in bruising conflicts at home — with allies they’ll likely need to advance their presidential ambitions.
MICHIGAN: While you were sleeping, the law changed
March 12, 2025 // The two laws were scheduled to take effect Feb. 21. The Legislature acted minutes (not hours) before the deadline and delivered the bills to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the middle of the night. Employers went to sleep on Feb. 20, woke up to a new regulatory environment, and are scrambling to understand the laws. How did we get here? In 2018, out-of-state advocacy groups sent two ballot measures to the Legislature. One measure imposed paid sick time mandates on every employer in the state — every company, nonprofit and government entity. The other measure mandated minimum wage increases, eviscerating the tip credit that helps restaurant servers and bartenders earn well above minimum wage.
Commentary: Is employment exploitation?
February 5, 2025 // The people who believe employment is exploitative see that employers want to pay workers as little as they can and will replace them at the slightest inconvenience. That business owners make more money when they lower their costs. Thus, they see that minimum wage laws and paid sick leave rules counter the business owners’ incentive to exploit workers. The laws ensure employers can’t pay too little and keep them from firing people who get ill. On the opposite side, some people believe that employees have options about where to work. Workers can earn an honest wage at another employer if one treats them poorly or doesn’t offer them what they’re worth. Many employers pay well because they recognize workers’ worth, but even miserly employers must compete for workers. Part of that competition is over how well employees are treated.
House Republicans serve up reforms for tipped wage and paid leave
January 16, 2025 // House bills 4001 and 4002, introduced by Reps. Jay Deboyer, R-Clay Township, and Rep. John Roth, R-Interlochen, would modify new laws that, as of Feb. 21, will require paid time off for all employees and minimum wage for tipped wage workers. The 2024 decision by the state’s high court followed years of lawmaking, and the resulting laws, which have become a hot potato for both parties. Taken together, the new laws could increase restaurant costs by a quarter or more, according to a restaurant industry survey.
CA requires public school unionization lessons, bans mandatory anti-union work meetings
January 2, 2025 // Two new laws — AB 800, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023, and now SB 399, signed into law by Newsom this year, are set to help maintain or even increase union membership in the state. AB 800, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023, requires California high school juniors and seniors to be taught about their workplace rights, the achievements of organized labor, and students’ right to join a union. Education site Chalkboard News used public records requests to discover what exactly this new law is having teachers cover.
Judge declines to ground unionized flight attendants’ paid sick leave lawsuit against Southwest
October 9, 2024 // Unionized airline workers are challenging a settlement between Southwest Airlines and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment that largely exempts the airline from following state paid sick leave requirements.