WSNYC Blog: The Latest in Employment Law

Instacart has terminated ten employees working at a grocery store in Illinois who voted to form the first and only union for the grocery delivery company in early 2020. The workers unionized with The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1546. The news of their termination was “buried” in a blog post the company published in January about introducing new curbside pickup models. The blog also informed readers about further layoffs of in-store shoppers. According to the UFCW, Instacart

PricewaterhouseCoopers, a large accounting firm, reached a nearly $12 million settlement deal last month over age discrimination allegations. The lawsuit began when Steven Rabin, who was 50 years old, claimed he was wrongly denied a job because of his age. In March 2019, a federal judge conditionally certified a collective action of roughly 5,000 other individuals who also allegedly experienced age discrimination. After this certification, the parties began settlement negotiations and eventually reached a deal worth $11.6 million. 

Is On-Campus Hiring

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, employers have implemented a series of workplace changes mostly in concern of safety. Many employers have instituted a number of health safety measures such as social distancing, intense and more frequent cleaning, and mask-wearing for
their employees. These measures have followed the guidelines mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). To further emphasize the importance of safety during this time, President Joe Biden signed several executive orders last week, including one directed

In early January, years of activism and hard work paid off when over 400 engineers and workers at Google formed the Alphabet Workers Union, the first union at the company and one of the only unions in the tech industry. It is extremely rare for tech workers to unionize, as most Silicon Valley companies have resisted white-collar workers’ efforts to organize. The new union is associated with Communications Workers of America (C.W.A.), the largest communications and media labor union in

Kohl’s Department Stores recently agreed to pay nearly $3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the department store chain misclassified assistant store managers as exempt from overtime pay. Last week, these assistant managers stated in a settlement motion that “the agreement with Kohl’s over their Fair Labor Standards Act claims was appropriate because the retailer continued to deny wrongdoing and might oppose their bid for collective certification” in the future, according to a Law360 article. In other words, a

The unexpected and sudden emergence of Covid-19 this past year has left many financially burdened, including Uber drivers. The U.S. unemployment rate reached 14.7 percent in April, the highest level since the Great Depression, leaving many businesses losing  profit and unable to keep employees’ jobs. As a result, many Uber drivers in upstate New York have applied for unemployment insurance benefits. Beginning in March, several employees filed cases against the company for classifying them as independent contractors and therefore denying

New York City fast food workers have new protections under a law signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio this month. Now, fast food workers may not be fired without just cause or a legitimate economic reason. Addressing the difficulty the restaurant industry has faced during the Coronavirus pandemic, de Blasio stated “a strong, fair recovery starts with protecting working people . . . These bills will provide crucial job stability and protections for fast food workers on the front lines.”

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