On July 25, 2017, Law No. 9343, known as the “Labor Procedure Reform” (LPR), became effective. By amending 348 articles of the Labor Code, the LPR overhauls nearly half of the country’s labor and employment laws.
Missouri was set to become a right-to-work state on August 28, 2017. However, unions have continued efforts to prevent the implementation of Senate Bill 19 (“SB 19”), Missouri’s right-to-work bill.
On August 4, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to enforce a holding by the National Labor Relations Board that the Cable News Network (CNN) was a joint employer.
The same week the Department of Labor removed two guidance documents governing joint employment and independent contractors, it indicated it will soon reconsider two contentious rules that have been put on hold.
As expected, Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) has reintroduced a bill targeting the National Labor Relations Board's decision in Specialty Healthcare, 357 NLRB No. 83 (2011).
On April 25, 2017, OSHA reversed its position that during inspections of non-union workplaces, employees could be represented by anyone selected by the employees, including non-representative outside union agents.
In a ruling that affects both union and non-union employers, the D.C. Circuit recently held in Banner Health System v. NLRB that employers may not prohibit employees from discussing information related to employees’ salaries and discipline.
