NEWS & COMMENTARY November 17, 2022

[Omaha Steve]

By Miriam Shestack
Miriam Shestack is a student at Harvard Law School.

In today’s News and Commentary: Red Cup Day strikes at Starbucks, the House passes a bill nullifying gag orders around workplace sexual harassment, workers at a St. Louis Apple Store move to unionize, New York City proposes higher wages for delivery app workers, an impending SCOTUS decision that will determine next steps in cases against meatpacking companies by families of workers who died of COVID-19, and Missouri doubles down on subminimum wages for disabled workers.

Workers at over 100 Starbucks locations across the country are going on strike today. The #redcuprebellion was planned to coincide with the coffee chain’s “Red Cup Day” kickoff to the holiday season. Starbucks Workers United reports that this is the largest coordinated action of the Starbucks Union movement yet. View a map of picket locations here.

The House passed a bill that would nullify some nondisclosure agreements when employees allege sexual harassment or assault on Wednesday. The Speak Out Act (S. 4524) passed with a 315-109 vote after passing the Senate by unanimous consent in September. The bill now heads to President Biden for signature just months after Congress passed the “#MeToo bill” (H.R. 4445) banning mandatory arbitration for workplace sexual harassment and assault claims, making it easier for victims to pursue lawsuits in court. This legislation covers a narrow scope of nondisclosure agreements, also known as “gag orders,” that are signed before misconduct takes place. However, the bill does not invalidate NDAs signed after a worker and company have already reached a settlement over harassment or assault charges. Lift Our Voices, a policy group headed by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, negotiated the terms of the bill for months with lawmakers to attract a wide bipartisan consensus, Bloomberg reports.

FULL story: https://onlabor.org/november-17-2022/