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The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was enacted on July 5, 1935. It established the National Labor Relations Board and addressed relations between unions and employers in the private sector. The NLRA encourages collective bargaining by protecting workers’ freedom of association and protects workplace democracy by providing employees at private-sector workplaces the right to seek better working conditions and designate their representatives without a fear of retaliation.

Two cannabis employees sued their employer alleging they were improperly paid for the time they worked and did not always receive minimum wage for each hour because they often had to work “off the clock.” They also alleged that they often worked more than eight hours a day and 40 hours a week without receiving overtime pay at one and a half times their regular pay rate.

Sixty-nine years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. Proposed a year earlier by President John F. Kennedy, the Act prohibits discrimination in public places, such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels, provided for the integration of schools, libraries, swimming pools, and other public facilities, and made certain forms of discrimination in employment illegal.

On July 1st, a raft of laws passed by the Virginia General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor will become effective, including HB 1895, which prohibits certain confidentiality agreements that might serve to cover up employer misconduct. The law, which is based on a federal law called the Speak Out Act, expands an existing prohibition on confidentiality agreements that bar employees from sharing allegations of sexual assault.

Effective July 1, 2023, the Maryland Public Employee Relations Act (“PERA”) will standardize and clarify the procedures for collective bargaining by state employees and education employees across the state. Public employees in Maryland obtained the right to collectively bargain in 1998 and 2001, resulting in fragmented labor laws.

On June 27, 2023, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”), a new federal law providing expanded workplace protections to pregnant workers, becomes effective. Although existing federal laws protect workers from unlawful discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions, the PWFA enhances these employment protections by requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations to workers experiencing limitations arising from pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions even if those limitations do not rise to the level of a “disability.”

On July 15, 2022, Miguel Carabajo filed a lawsuit against APCO Insulation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), alleging that they failed to pay him and other employees overtime, unlawfully deducted time for meal breaks they did not take, and required them to come in early before clocking in.

The rights of tipped workers to pay and overtime are treated differently than most other workers.  For example, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers may pay a reduced amount as the minimum wage provided that the workers’ tips equal at least the difference between that amount and the federal minimum wage.

Sixty years ago, on June 10, 1963, the Equal Pay Act was signed into law. The Equal Pay Act was enacted to protect workers against wage discrimination based on sex, meaning it had a goal of bringing equality to compensation practices. This was a landmark piece of federal anti-discrimination law and one of the first to address pay disparities in this way.

On May 27, 2023, Texas added protections for hairstyles (such as “braids, locks, and twists”) and textures commonly or historically associated with race to its law prohibiting race discrimination in employment and housing. In addition, the new law, HB 567, bans public schools and universities from establishing dress codes that do not allow such race-related hairstyles and textures.