| | | | |  | | By Nick Niedzwiadek | | | ON THE DOCKET: A National Labor Relations Board judge on Tuesday is set to hear arguments in a case that will serve as a big test of General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo’s ambitious push to curtail the use of non-compete agreements. Abruzzo issued a memo last May detailing her position that non-compete agreements violate workers’ federal labor rights when they deny employees “the ability to quit or change jobs by cutting off their access to other employment opportunities that they are qualified for based on their experience, aptitudes, and preferences as to type and location of work.” The agency has also targeted what it and some worker advocates call TRAPs — or training repayment agreement provisions — in which employers seek to recoup certain costs from employees who leave under certain conditions. “She was pretty clear where she wanted to take the board,” Maribeth Meluch, a partner at the Ohio-based business law firm Kohrman Jackson & Krantz. “The NLRB wants employees to be able to leave if the employment terms and conditions are not agreeable.” In September, the NLRB issued a complaint along both these fronts against a national medical spa chain, Juvly Aesthetics, alleging that the company forced employees into unlawful non-compete and confidentiality requirements and demanded two employees pay $50,000 and $60,000, respectively, to recoup training costs. Critics of such repayment conditions, which has received increased attention in recent years, argue that it unfairly restricts workers’ ability to change jobs and that the costs demanded are oftentimes exorbitant relative to an employees’ pay. Attorneys for Juvly have argued in legal filings that the NLRB is exceeding its authority and denied wrongdoing. Following the hearing, the ALJ would likely rule later this year, though that decision can be appealed to the agency’s board — and from there, in federal court. More battles are likely on the horizon. A group of Filipino nurses in December filed charges with the NLRB challenging training repayment requirements in their employment contracts, and other parts of the Biden administration — most notably the Federal Trade Commission — have been emboldened to whittle away at employers’ hold on workers through non-compete agreements. GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, Jan. 29. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. Your New York born-and-bred host finally started — and finished — ”The Power Broker” this month. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@politico.com and gyarrow@politico.com. Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @NickNiedz and @YarrowGrace. PROGRAMMING NOTE: On Friday we bid farewell to Olivia, who joined the labor team last year and is headed off to Chicago Tribune. She will miss the beat dearly and can always be reached @oliviaolanderr on X. And if you or anyone you know is in the job market, POLITICO has posted the opening here.
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| | FIRST IN SHIFT: Sens. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Angus King (I-Maine) are introducing a business group-backed bill incentivizing paid family and medical leave. The venture is separate from the bipartisan House and Senate working groups on the issue. The bill would make permanent an employer tax credit for family leave implemented in 2018 that’s set to expire next year, while expanding the number of businesses eligible to receive it. It would also give employers the option to allow employees to take advantage of the leave after six months of employment, down from a year. Read a summary of the bill here and the full text here. MAP FOR MARCH: Congress’ top appropriators late last week struck top-line agreements for the dozen appropriations bills, a key milestone ahead of the March funding deadlines. However, neither Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) nor House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas) are releasing those budget figures for the time being — leaving agencies and others in the dark, our Caitlin Emma reports.
| | TRADER JOE’S PILES ONTO NLRB: Trader Joe’s on Friday joined the growing collection of employers in the National Labor Relations Board’s crosshairs that have gone to federal court to argue that the 88-year-old agency is unconstitutional, Bloomberg reports. “‘The structure and organization of the National Labor Relations Board and the agency’s administrative law judges is unconstitutional,’ the company’s attorney Christopher Murphy said, according to a transcript of the proceeding that Bloomberg News obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.” The broadside at the Jan. 16 hearing came less than two weeks after SpaceX filed a federal suit in Texas challenging the NLRB’s setup, arguing both that its use of administrative law judges and the board’s insulation from the White House violate the constitution's separation of powers doctrine, signaling a quickly spreading willingness to defang a main antagonist. More union news: “Teamsters to meet with Trump, some members are furious,” from The Washington Post.
| | | TEENS AT WORK: Florida Republicans and business groups have set their sights on loosening restrictions on child labor, our Lawrence Ukenye reports for Pro subscribers. A state House committee approved a bill that would remove limits on the number of hours 16- and 17-year-olds can work and allow them to work more than six consecutive days in a week while school is in session. Such efforts have been met with pushback. A Senate measure that initially sought to allow teens to work in roofing and scaffolding was pared back, barring them from working more than 6 feet above ground level and only allows them to work on residential — rather than commercial — construction sites. Still it is part of a larger trend, primarily in Republican-led states, at a time when the Biden administration has tried to step up enforcement of child labor abuses — particularly in hazardous workplaces. More state news: “Woke NY pol’s ‘worker safety’ bill could kill small business with costly mandates: critics,” from the New York Post.
| | | STARTS AT THE TOP: Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed 13 women who worked for the state over the course of an eight-year period, the Department of Justice announced Friday as part of a civil rights settlement with his successor. The Justice Department found Cuomo “repeatedly subjected” women in his office to non-consensual sexual contact, ogling and gender-based nicknames, our Nick Reisman reports. Top Cuomo staff “were aware of the conduct and retaliated against four of the women he harassed,” the DOJ concluded. The behavior violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, according to DOJ. Cuomo’s representatives lambasted the settlement as a hatchet job by “Chuck Schumer’s handpicked U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District” of New York, Breon Peace, and argued it unscrupulous echoed findings issued by state Attorney General Tish James several years ago. REMOTE DOWNFALLS: Data shows remote employees are more likely to be fired or quit than their in-person counterparts, The Wall Street Journal reported. An analysis of 2 million white-collar workers showed that fully remote workers were 35% more likely to be laid off in 2023, according to employment data from Live Data Technologies.
| | SLOW ON THE UPTAKE: Less than 5 percent of the federal workforce made use of the federal government’s paid parental leave during the first nearly two years of the program, Government Executive reports. Between October 2020 and July 2022, 4 percent of federal workers reported taking leave available to them under legislation included in the FY2020 NDAA, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday. However, of those who did say they took leave during that span, four out of five said they took the full amount.
| | | GOP REACHES FOR IMPEACHMENT: House Republicans unveiled articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday, accusing him of “breach of trust” and “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law,” our Jordain Carney reports. The impeachment resolution is the culmination of a monthslong investigation into Mayorkas that at times last year appeared to have stalled as Republicans shifted their focus toward investigating President Joe Biden. Republicans held two impeachment-related hearings earlier this month as they tried to build the case for an impeachment vote on Mayorkas. More immigration news: “Lawyer and Son Ensnared Hundreds of Immigrants in Fraud Scheme, U.S. Says,” from The New York Times.
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S GOVERNORS SUMMIT: Join POLITICO on Feb. 22 to dive into how Governors are wielding immense power. While Washington remains gridlocked, governors are at the center of landmark decisions in AI and tech, economic development, infrastructure, housing, reproductive health and energy. How are they setting the stage for the future of American politics, policies and priorities? How are they confronting major challenges? Explore these questions and more at the 2024 Governors Summit. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | | — “Biden Aides Signal Importance of Union Jobs in Nippon Steel Review,” from Bloomberg. — “Domestic Textile Industry Crashing Because of Trade Loophole,” from The American Prospect. — “How Bosses Can Stop the ‘Meeting After the Meeting,” from The Wall Street Journal. — “The Plan to Incapacitate the Federal Government,” from The Atlantic. THAT’S YOUR SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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