In late Fall of 2018, after a nationwide bidding war with other large metropolitan cities, Ecommerce and tech giant Amazon decided to build its second North American headquarters in Long Island City, Queens. In return for almost $3 billion in subsidies from the City, Amazon has promised a variety of things to give back to [...]
UFT v. Janus After the Janus decision came down in June of 2018, it seemed as if all of New York's unions and labor advocates had mobilized. Governor Cuomo had submitted legislature to protect the power of unions into the 18/19 fiscal budget, which was put in place shortly before [...]
On June 27th, after months of deliberation, The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Mark Janus in Janus v. AFSCME. The decision, which overturns the 1977 precedent set by Abood v. Detroit B.O.E., states that the fair-share fees once paid by non-union employees are a violation of their First Amendment rights. The case [...]
California and Seattle are the latest battlegrounds for lawsuits involving ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft. As the gig economy expands, the definitions of job and employee are growing with it. However, the business model of the gig economy can be particularly daunting for their independent contractors-those of who are usually not subject to certain benefits, [...]
Labor unions have a long history in public works and trades. Typically unions are made up of police officers, fire fighters, sanitation, electricians, construction workers, the health industry, and the like. However, recently there are a variety of industries with employees voting to unionize. Their reasons for voting to unionize are all unique to the [...]
The 2019 NYS Fiscal Budget was completed two days before its April 1st deadline. While $1 million was allocated to investigate wage theft, new legislation introduced into the budget to soften the blow that the Supreme Court case Janus vs. AFSCME ruling could have. The budget that was allocated to investigate wage theft is part [...]