NELA

Empowering Workers' Rights Attorneys

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NELA Applauds Introduction Of Empower Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Terry O’Neill, Executive Director
(415) 296-7629
toneill@nelahq.org

NELA Applauds Introduction Of EMPOWER Act

Statement of Terry O’Neill, Executive Director of the National Employment Lawyers Association

OAKLAND, Calif., June 5, 2018 – For over 30 years, NELA lawyers have stood up for employees—case by case, day in and day out—in the fight against sexual harassment and other forms of workplace discrimination. Today we are proud to support the Ending the Monopoly of Power Over Workplace Harassment through Education and Reporting Act (“EMPOWER Act”), a bipartisan bill introduced by Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

Under this bill, employers would no longer be able to silence survivors of workplace harassment through mandatory nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements, nor could they continue to write off their harassment-related legal bills as a mere “cost of doing business.” If enacted, the bill would also end the unfair tax penalty currently imposed on those who succeed in holding their employers accountable for unlawful harassment suffered at work.

The EMPOWER Act would establish a confidential tip line allowing the EEOC to gather and analyze nationwide data on workplace harassment. In addition, the bill would require publicly traded companies to disclose information about

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The Supreme Court turned its back on workers in Murphy Oil/Epic Systems

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Terry O’Neill, Executive Director
(415) 296-7629
toneill@nelahq.org

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U.S. Supreme Court Deals Major Blow To Employees’ Basic Rights

Statement of Terry O’Neill, Executive Director of the National Employment Lawyers Association

OAKLAND, Calif., May 21, 2018 – The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) is appalled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, Ernst & Young, LLP v. Morris, and National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil, USA(“Murphy Oil”), allowing employers to sidestep federal labor laws intended to guarantee workers’ rights. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg aptly put it in her dissent from the majority opinion, the decision in this case is “egregiously wrong.”

Nearly 100 years ago, workers fought and died for the right to act collectively to resolve grievances and improve working conditions. Today, as more comes out about the systemic abuses—including harassment, discrimination, wage theft, and others—that pervade America’s workplaces, courts should expand employees’ ability to challenge unlawful practices, not suppress them as a bare majority of the Supreme Court has done.

The employers in the Murphy Oil trio of cases stood accused of illegally withholding overtime pay or other compensation, in violation of … Read More