Employee Rights Briefing
March 2019
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The NELA Institute Welcomes New Events Coordinator
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On February 11, NELA and The NELA Institute welcomed our new Events Coordinator, Alicia Battle, to the team.
Alicia will be working with our venues and vendors to make our events great experiences. Upon joining us, Alicia provided, “I am very happy to start working with everyone at NELA and The NELA Institute. Originally from Los Angeles, I have been in the Bay Area since 1989 (just in time for the BIG earthquake). I have extensive experience coordinating events and a little experience working in the lawyer world, as I was the Production Manager for the now-defunct magazine
California Lawyer
. I look forward to a great and lasting relationship with all of you.”
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NELA & The NELA Institute Praised Google’s Move To End Forced Arbitration For Workers
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NELA and The NELA Institute strongly commended Google employees for their hard-fought, successful campaign to end forced arbitration in their workplace. We also praised Google for being responsive to their workers and committing to end its practice of forcing its employees to privately arbitrate employment disputes.
In response to the news, NELA & The NELA Institute Executive Director Terry O’Neill stated, “With this announcement, Google has shown leadership in voluntarily ending a practice that is inherently unfair and serves only to obscure workplace wrongdoing. Unfortunately, this skewed system remains the standard practice among most of America’s top companies. We urge other industry leaders to follow suit by retracting their forced arbitration employment policies straightaway. Moreover, given the demonstrable harm forced arbitration causes to individuals, we call on Congress to take direct action to reopen the courthouse doors for all workers and consumers by immediately passing legislation to end forced arbitration once and for all.”
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Attorney Eric Kingsley argued in support of California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) as a way for employees bound by forced arbitration clauses to access the courts in his February 12
Orange County Register
op-ed, “
Labor Lawsuits Grow The Economy, Protect Workers
.”
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Democrats Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) introduced the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (FAIR Act) on February 28, which, would end forced arbitration of employment, consumer, and other disputes. NELA issued a
press statement
in support of the bill the same day.
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Workers Rights By The Numbers
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The wage gap between black workers and their white counterparts grew from
10.2%
in the year 2000
to 16.2%
in 2018.
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Percentage of U.S. adults engaged in gig work in the year 2015.
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On February 4, in
National Association of African American-Owned Media v. Charter Communications, Inc.,
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected but-for causation in certain race discrimination cases, finding that “mixed-motive claims are cognizable” under the statute. The opinion provided, “Even if racial animus was not the but-for cause of a defendant’s refusal to contract, a plaintiff can still prevail if she demonstrates that discriminatory intent was a factor in that decision such that she was denied the same right as a white citizen.”
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On February 27, in
Lampley v. Missouri Commission on Human Rights, the Missouri State Supreme Court ruled that a gay man may bring a claim under the state’s human rights statute for employment discrimination on the basis of sexual stereotyping.
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The
Employee Rights Briefing is a monthly newsletter designed to help keep you up-to-date on breaking news and emerging trends impacting America's workers. From the growth of forced arbitration of employment disputes, to employee misclassification, to stories of wage theft and workplace discrimination, the
Employee Rights Briefing reports on employment law and policy developments from the federal government to state legislatures to the courtroom and everywhere in between. Our goal is to provide you with a digestible snapshot of the events shaping employment law and policy, so that you can be kept abreast of the most important issues facing today's workers.
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The Employee Rights Advocacy Institute For Law & Policy
2201 Broadway, Suite 310 | Oakland, CA | 94612
(415) 296-7629 | info@employeerightsadvocacy.org
www.employeerightsadvocacy.org
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