Last week, Mayor Barry delayed implementation of Nashville new local hiring law citing concerns from labor and industry groups. Following on the heels of the Mayor’s announcement, Herbert Slatery, Tennessee Attorney General, issued a formal opinion and found the local-hire amendment violated Tennessee’s contractors licensing laws. The AG determined the Tennessee Contractors Licensing Act of 1994 prohibited counties and municipalities from … Read More
Nashville Local Hire Law Delayed
Yesterday, new Nashville mayor Megan Barry delayed the implementation of the new local hire law. The mayor’s decision comes as a bit of a surprise following her public support of the measure during the election, despite strong opposition from former Mayor Karl Dean, contractors and trade organizations and the Chamber of Commerce. Although the new rule was set to be written … Read More
New OSHA Rule for Confined Spaces in Construction
Earlier this year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) added a new rule to provide increased protections to construction workers working in confined spaces on construction projects. Confined spaces are things such as bins, pits, manholes, crawl spaces, sewers, HVAC ducts, tanks, etc. The new confined spaces standards went into effect on August 3, 2015. Although currently in effect, OSHA … Read More
Federal Bill Introduced to Address NLRB’s Recent “Joint Employer” Ruling
On September 9, Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander (R), along with 35 co-sponsors in the Senate and 25 co-sponsors in the House, filed legislation to force the NLRB to return to the decades old “joint employer” standard. The NLRB overturned the prior standard on August 27 in Browning-Ferris Industries of California. As recently discussed by LT lawyer Jason Pannu in this blog post, the … Read More
NLRB Changes Joint Employer Standard with Major Implications for General Contractors
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) recently issued its decision in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc. In a 3-2 decision (along party lines), the NLRB changed the standard for who may be considered a joint employer under the National Labor Relations Act. In the construction industry, this decision could make it more likely that general contactors will be considered joint employers of … Read More