| | | | |  | | By Nick Niedzwiadek | With help from Lawrence Ukenye
| | LITIGATION NATION: A gaggle of Republican attorneys general have filed a lawsuit in Arkansas targeting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s recently finalized regulations for enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act over provisions related to abortion. “Congress passed the bipartisan Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to protect mothers-to-be and promote healthy pregnancies, and the EEOC's attempt to rewrite that law into an abortion mandate is illegal,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who is heading up the challenge with 16 other states, said in a statement. The long-gestating legislation came to fruition in late 2022 with bipartisan support as part of the end-of-year spending deal. The law took effect last summer, but the legislation gave the EEOC a few months beyond that to devise rules to help employers and workers alike navigate what situations and temporary accommodations are or are not covered by the statute. However social conservatives felt blindsided by the EEOC’s proposed regulations when they were unveiled in August due to the inclusion of abortion under the umbrella of “related medical conditions” to which the law applies. The EEOC pointed to a slate of case law and other precedent to back up its position. Nevertheless a deluge of public comments — roughly 100,000 — poured in, many of which were from those animated in opposition to this issue, but the EEOC’s final rule ultimately kept that language in tact. Neither the regulations nor the PWFA require employers to pay for abortion procedures, provide paid leave or otherwise cover abortion. Still the AGs' suit argues that the “reasonable accommodations” that are central to PWFA force employers to effectively “facilitate workers’ abortions or face federal suit — even those elective abortions of healthy pregnancies that are illegal under state law,” according to the complaint. The EEOC referred a request for comment on the suit to the Justice Department, which did not respond. The PWFA has already been dealt one blow in court, albeit indirectly, as Judge James Wesley Hendrix in February ruled that the law could not be enforced against the Texas state government or its agencies because it was unconstitutionally passed by Congress without a quorum due to the House’s use of Covid-era proxy voting at the time. Beyond its main arguments, the Republican AGs also join the collection of groups alleging that a number of independent agencies, including the EEOC, violate the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers. “EEOC’s unlawful structure renders its rules unlawful and requires setting aside the Final Rule as void,” the filing states. GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, April 29. Welcome back to Morning Shift, your go-to tipsheet on labor and employment-related immigration. You can always send “Hey” to us. Send feedback, tips and exclusives to nniedzwiadek@politico.com and lukenye@politico.com. Follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @NickNiedz and @Lawrence_Ukenye.
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| | BOON FOR FARMWORKERS: The Labor Department released a final rule Friday that updates existing law to increase protections for the temporary or seasonal agriculture workers who receive H-2A visas, including increasing wage transparency and adding more protections against labor trafficking and employer retaliation, our Grace Yarrow reports for Pro subscribers. The rule prohibits employers from confiscating workers’ travel or immigration documents, to “better protect workers from potential labor trafficking,” according to DOL. Employers also must disclose details of their agreements with H-2A foreign recruiters, including the recruiters’ names and locations. The rule is scheduled to be officially published in the Federal Register on Monday and will take effect 60 days after that. The proposal was first released in September.
| | CHALLENGING CONTRACTOR RULE: The New Civil Liberties Alliance on Friday said it was suing the Labor Department to block its tightened test for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or full-on employee. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, argues that the standard DOL finalized in January is impermissibly vague and the Biden administration lacked sufficient justification for junking the Trump-era framework, which emphasized a workers’ “opportunity for profit” and degree of control above other considerations. “The Department’s sole justification for abandoning a worker’s independent control and opportunity for profit as the lodestars of independent contractor classification is the assertion that emphasizing these commonsense considerations is inconsistent with judicial precedent,” the filing states. “This assertion is arbitrary and capricious because no precedent prohibits focusing on control and opportunity as the most probative factors in determining whether a worker is in business for himself as a matter of economic reality.” NCLA’s lawsuit joins several related challenges, including one from freelance writers filed in Georgia and a trucking company in Louisiana as well as a business lobby-led effort initially filed back in 2021. More workplace news: “Welcome Back, Road Warriors: Business Travel Returns,” from The Wall Street Journal.
| | | DAIMLER DEAL DONE: The United Auto Workers and Daimler Truck in North Carolina struck a tentative contract ahead of a possible strike by more than 7,000 workers, the union announced late Friday. UAW said the deal would provide a 25 percent boost to wages over the course of four years, with a 16 percent increase coming in in year one, as well as a new profit sharing provision and other demands. President Joe Biden on Sunday lauded the agreement as “testament to the power of collective bargaining and shows that we can build a clean energy economy with strong, middle-class union jobs.” A work stoppage would have presented another southern test for the UAW after it successfully unionized a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee. The push for a new agreement was the latest effort by UAW President Shawn Fain to ensure funding from the Biden administration to spur the country’s electric vehicle industry includes union labor, our Emma Cordover reported hours before the deal. More union news: "Granholm tells unions to link job growth to Biden’s legislative wins," from Climatewire.
| | | HEADED OUT: Gordon Hartogensis, the director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, is due to depart as his five-year term comes to a close April 30. PBGC serves as the federal government’s backstop for private-sector pension plans, and the normally low-profile agency has been in the spotlight for several months due to Republican outcry over a $127 million miscalculation to the Central States Pension Fund, which recently agreed to return the money. More agency news: “SpaceX asks Texas judge to block NLRB case over severance agreements,” from Reuters.
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S ENERGY SUMMIT: The future of energy faces a crossroads in 2024 as policymakers and industry leaders shape new rules, investments and technologies. Join POLITICO’s Energy Summit on June 5 as we convene top voices to examine the shifting global policy environment in a year of major elections in the U.S. and around the world. POLITICO will examine how governments are writing and rewriting new rules for the energy future and America’s own role as a major exporter. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | MOVE OVER MENENDEZ: Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) has become a key voice for immigrants in the U.S. at a time when President Joe Biden and other Democrats have entertained tougher approaches to border enforcement and asylum claims, The Associated Press reports. “Padilla has urged the president and fellow Democrats to hold firm to the position that border enforcement measures be paired with reforms for immigrants who are already in the country. Padilla expressed frustration with how some Democrats, including Biden, did not keep immigration reforms, such as a pathway to citizenship for those who entered the U.S. illegally as children, a top priority during a negotiation earlier this year with Senate Republicans on border security.” HAPPENING WEDNESDAY: Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su is set to testify before the House Education and the Workforce Committee to discuss the agency’s recent regulatory actions and FY25 budget request.
| | HARTFORD HAPPENINGS: The Connecticut House of Representatives last week passed a bill expanding the state’s paid leave law to all employers starting in 2027, The Associated Press reports. “Connecticut’s current paid sick law generally requires certain employers with at least 50 employees to provide up to 40 hours of paid sick leave annually to “service workers” in certain specified occupations. This bill applies to all employees and affects employers with 25 or more workers beginning Jan. 1, 2025; 11 or more workers beginning Jan. 1, 2026; and one or more workers beginning Jan. 1, 2027.” More state news: “How the Baltimore bridge collapse upended a D.C. coffee chain’s business,” from The Washington Post.
| | | — “US weekly jobless claims unexpectedly fall,” from Reuters. — “OPM guidance details when agencies can ask about applicants' criminal history,” from Government Executive. — “Amazon Must Comply With DOL Subpoena for Anti-Union Travel Costs,” from Bloomberg Law. — “BNSF becomes 2nd major railroad to sign on to anonymous federal safety hotline for some workers,” from The Associated Press. THAT’S YOUR SHIFT! | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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