A pendulum-swinging decision issued by the National Labor Relations Board on February 21 means that severance agreements – in both unionized and non-union workplaces – could once again be deemed unlawful if they could be construed to broadly restrict a worker’s rights to speak about the agreement or otherwise talk negatively about their former employer, among other things. While several Trump-era rulings permitted employers to include confidentiality provisions and non-disparagement clauses in severance pacts, the Board’s ruling in McLaren Macomb wiped those decisions off the books – thereby jeopardizing any agreements including them. How should you change your standard severance agreement practices thanks to this setback, what should you do about existing agreements, and what does this decision signal for the future? Here are the answers to your nine most important questions.
Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas and Janesville-Beloit, Wisc. Have Largest 12-Month Gains, While Monroe, Mich., Lake Charles, La., and Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, Calif. Experience Worst Year-over-Year Declines
In AGC’s annual survey with FMI, the top risks identified included price increases in materials and equipment, lack of skilled/craft labor as well as lack of field supervisors. While most respondents reported moderately higher or significantly higher backlogs today compared to the end of 2021, 70 percent of them admitted having a low labor force relative to backlog demands. Furthermore, almost 40 percent of survey respondents reported an increase in subcontractor defaults compared to a year ago.
Construction firms added 24,000 employees in February, as hefty pay raises for hourly workers enabled the industry to increase employment more steeply than other sectors, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of new government data. Association officials said that while employment levels are now at record levels in the industry, future job gains will be hard given the lack of people who have been exposed to construction career opportunities.
AGC of America and other business groups jointly submitted an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court on March 3 in support of a land developer’s request for review of a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision that allows citizen enforcement even when the state environmental agency has begun enforcement for a Clean Water Act (CWA) violation.