Employee Rights Briefing
March 2020
Community. Learning. Excellence. NELA 2020 Annual Convention Registration Now Open
Join The Institute at the NELA 2020 Annual Convention, Community. Learning. Excellence, in Philadelphia, PA for a celebratation of 35 years of empowering workers’ rights advocates. The Annual Convention is your opportunity to learn from and network with some of the best and brightest in the field of plaintiffs’ employment law. Registration is now open!
 
Community. Learning. Excellence.
2020 NELA Annual Convention
June 24–27, 2020
Philadelphia Marriott Downtown
Philadelphia, PA


Early-Bird Registration Ends May 15.
Program details coming soon.
In The News
On February 6, the House of Representatives voted to approve the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would limit independent contractor classification and penalize employers for interfering in unionization.
On February 10, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup ordered DoorDash to individually arbitrate employment misclassification claims brought by more than 5,000 food couriers, denying its request to pause the proceedings.
On February 13, Wells Fargo announced an end to its forced arbitration policy for sexual harassment claims.
On February 18, workers at the tech crowdsourcing company Kickstarter voted to unionize, making it the first union of white-collar, full-time workers in the tech sector.
On February 20, Time Magazine explores the state of inequality for black workers nearly six decades after the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
On February 20, President Trump signed an executive order giving Defense Secretary Mark Esper the authority to end collective bargaining for Pentagon employees.
Workers Rights By The Numbers
425,500
The number of workers taking part in 25 work stoppages in 2019;
a two-decade high.
12.6 Billion
The total amount of wages stolen from private sector non-union workers earning less than $13 an hour who are forced into arbitration.
In The Courts
On February 3, Amazon urged a Ninth Circuit panel to find that their delivery drivers were not transportation workers under the exception outlined in the Federal Arbitration Act. This decision will determine if Amazon delivery drivers will be forced to arbitrate their grievances.
On February 6, a California federal judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking California law A.B. 51, a law that would criminalize employment agreements that include forced arbitration provisions. In her order, Judge Mueller held that the state’s law was preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. 
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.
The Employee Rights Advocacy Institute For Law & Policy
1800 Sutter Street, Suite 210 | Concord, CA | 94520
(415) 296-7629 | info@employeerightsadvocacy.org
www.employeerightsadvocacy.org