Why HR Is a Junior Business Partner: 10 Reasons

The uproar over Amazon’s work culture is another example of how businesses undervalue the HR function. My 10 reasons for this recurring phenomenon:
10. Grad degrees in business administration are common (MBA); Master’s degrees in HR Management are rare (but see LER, at https://ler.illinois.edu/ ). 9. HR function populated by females, and businesses discount female work. 8. HR acts as the internal rules enforcer for companies, and is therefore not trusted. 7. HR is seen too often as just an administrative function. 6. HR “deliverables” are hard to quantify, and therefore less visible. 5. Firms are ruled by their P&L statements—but gains and losses in human capital never show up here. 4. Companies de-couple firm strategy and HR strategy. 3. Change management should be a core HR function, but often is driven by finance people who are ignorant about work culture. 2. Shareholders are never told a story about human talent--- exception: major league sports teams, where human capital is an obsession for stakeholders (fans). 1. HR is perceived as a cost to be minimized, not an asset to accumulate.

Why Do Unions Seek Exemptions BELOW New Minimum Wages? To Grow Membership

Protests for $15 minimum wages have been organized by labor unions, especially the Service Employees (SEIU). Now comes word that these unions are seeking statutory exemptions from the $15 (or similar) mandates they legislated. Why? The strategy is to make collective bargaining more attractive to employers. How odd is that? Similarly odd is the reaction by employers. Randy Gordon, president of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said that unions pushed the higher wage law to gain leverage over management at local hotels. Unions defend the statutory exemptions, saying the carve-outs keep more money on the bargaining table for health insurance and other benefits. Fascinating story, and rather unusual: http://www.wsj.com/articles/minimum-wage-waivers-for-union-members-stir-standoff-1439857915

Jewish Reggae Star, Christopher Columbus: Booted from Spain

In 2012, Spanish scholars assembled evidence that Christopher Columbus, who “sailed the ocean blue in 1492,” was a Jewish “Marrano” ["pig," for refusing forced conversion to Christianity] escaping the Inquisition. This edict from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled 800,000 Jews from Spain. The explorer’s last will tithed one-tenth of his income to the poor, and provided an anonymous dowry for poor girls—then unique customs for Jews. He also gave money to a Jew who lived at the entrance of the Lisbon Jewish Quarter…. Background here: http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Matisyahu-Appalling-and-offense-that-festival-tried-to-coerce-me-into-political-statements-412413. Yesterday, a Spanish reggae festival cancelled the appearance of Matisyahu, a Jewish reggae star. He refused to support the BDS movement (Boycott-Divest-Sanction Israel). So far, the Spanish monarchy has been silent. See here: http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Matisyahu-Appalling-and-offense-that-festival-tried-to-coerce-me-into-political-statements-412413.

Stress for Success? The Amazon Way

Saturday’s New York Times features Amazon’s recipe for success: stress your employees. Quote: “They are told to forget the ‘poor habits’ they learned at previous jobs, one employee recalled. When they ‘hit the wall’ from the unrelenting pace, there is only one solution: ‘Climb the wall,’ others reported.” Another quote: “The internal phone directory instructs colleagues on how to send secret feedback to one another’s bosses. Employees say it is frequently used to sabotage others. (The tool offers sample texts, including this: ‘I felt concerned about his inflexibility and openly complaining about minor tasks.’)” Thanks to a family member for this great employment news tip. Article is here: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html?referrer=&_r=0

The Know Nothing Party (1850s) and Donald Trump (Today)

 

The “Know Nothings” was a U.S. political party, popular in the 1850s. Specifically, the party was dedicated to ending the influence of Irish Catholics, but its adherents were broadly against immigrants. The party believed that German and Irish immigrants were more loyal to the Pope than American political leaders. In terms of policy, they advocated for severe restrictions on immigration and naturalization. The group was composed of Protestant men…. Today, Donald Trump announces his intention to send 11 million undocumented immigrants back to their “homes.” The employment implications for agriculture, service sector, and construction are huge. See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/08/16/donald-trump-undocumented-immigrants-have-to-go/

Too Much Brown (University): New School Grad Students Are Ruled Not Employees

Are graduate students who teach and grade assignments employees or students?  In 2000, the National Labor Relations Board reversed their previous rulings on unionization at private universities by ruling that graduate assistants at New York University (NYU) were employees. Reason: They performed work. Therefore, they were eligible to unionize. In a 2004 case involving Brown University, the NLRB overruled the NYU policy. Reason: Ph.D. students must learn to teach as part of their professional training. Thus, they are not employees (though they are paid a TA stipend). My friend, Alan, passes along the latest chapter in this saga. At the New School, an NLRB Regional Director has dismissed a petition filed by grad students, citing Brown University. Quote from the ruling: “Because the [Union] seeks to represent individuals employed in classifications which fall within the term ‘graduate assistants,’ Brown is controlling, and therefore I am dismissing the petition."  News article here: http://www.thenation.com/article/are-graduate-students-workers/ .

When Does a Threatening Gesture Get You Fired? NLRB and Court Disagree on This

 
In a strike at an aluminum plant, a striker made a threatening gesture to a co-worker by drawing his thumb across his throat and staring at the non-striking worker. The NLRB ruled that this conduct did not rise to a level to warrant termination, but the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. "Employers retain the right to discharge workers for any number of other reasons unrelated to the employee's union activity," Circuit Judge William Riley wrote, joined by Circuit Judge Michael Melloy…. I get that, completely— but if you take out the union part of the story, it seems like the employer would not have been so harsh. If this is true, then firing the not-so-smart striker was “pretextual” and not for a legitimate business reason. See here: http://www.law360.com/articles/568807/nlrb-faults-aluminum-co-for-firing-cut-throat-worker .

… Bake Me a Cake as Fast as You Can! For a Gay Wedding

A Colorado appeals court ruled that a Denver-area baker cannot refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple based on the baker’s religious belief. The Colorado Court of Appeals rejected the cake-shop owner’s First Amendment argument that he could refuse to create and sell a cake to a gay couple planning a wedding celebration. For more, see the Wall Street Journal report here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/court-rules-baker-cant-refuse-to-make-wedding-cake-for-gay-couple-1439506296

Labor Shortage for Harvest: Americans Still Won’t Stoop to Pick Produce

In the 1950s, the U.S. had a guest-worker policy that was more liberal in allowing temporary workers from Mexico to pick U.S. crops. Today, we have an H-2A visa that allows a foreign national entry into the U.S. for temporary or seasonal agricultural work. It has lots of red tape, aimed at protecting vulnerable migrants from exploitation. Well-meaning farms have problems getting workers under the USCIS program. Now, this story in today’s Wall Street Journal. An HR manager for a 35-acre produce farm in Arlington, Washington offered 20% raises to the most productive workers from the last harvest. She posted help-wanted ads on Craigslist, beside highways and on the bathroom-stall door at a church. She also successfully lobbied local high schools to broadcast her call for workers during morning announcements. She needs 100 workers … and found 60.  The article says: "More broadly, growers say they are bearing the brunt of the federal government’s crackdown on illegal immigration, as they lack a suitable alternative workforce. U.S.-born workers unaccustomed to farm labor abandon the job after just days during harvest, farm owners say, and the supply of mostly Mexican laborers that made up for them has shrunk in recent years." See here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/on-u-s-farms-fewer-hands-for-the-harvest-1439371802

Updates on No-Compete Clauses

A large number of employers are making it hard for former employees to find work after they quit. No-competes used to be restricted to occupations such as lawyers, physicians and the like. If you quit, you couldn’t take your employer’s clients and open shop a mile away. But now, even fast food chains prohibit sandwich makers from working in town after they quit. The remedy? New legislation. Summary: A new Oregon law will limit noncompetition agreements to a maximum of 18 months from the date of the employee’s termination. Hawaii has a new law that voids any noncompetition clause or a non-solicitation clause in employment contracts of employees of a technology business. Alabama has a new law that limits no-competes to “reasonable restrictions.”

Doubts About a Union for College Football: Part III

Earlier, we discussed how the fragmentation of labor laws poses a large obstacle to having real collective bargaining in college football. However, CAPA’s lead attorney has an intriguing solution: Add the NCAA as a “joint employer” under NLRA case law, and then every D-I school comes under the NLRB’s jurisdiction (because the NCAA is a private organization). This idea has serious shortcomings, even if the NLRB rules that student-athletes are “employees,” and even if a federal appeals court upholds this ruling. 1. The NLRB is already pushing the joint employer doctrine in a new area, the franchisor-franchisee relationship (McDonalds). They’ll need to hit a home run in federal court to make that idea stick. Apply it also to college football? It’s very doubtful the federal courts will let the NLRB run wild with its joint employer concept. 2. Reinforcing Point 1, federal courts deny enforcement to more than 30% of NLRB orders, especially those that seem political or controversial. 3. Even if the NLRB manages to run the table before the NLRB and federal courts—long shot there— the biggest football conferences and programs already are looking into breaking from the NCAA and forming their own league. If they do this, the NLRB and CAPA will have lots of court rulings that apply to the NCAA, but not a newly minted organization. The litigation cycle, which is notoriously slow, will need to start all over.

The Chicago Teachers Union and the Intriguing Alliance of Gov. Rauner and Mayor Emanuel

Many people fund their own retirements. In the private sector, under Social Security, employers are required to pay 7.65% of individual-worker earnings, and employees must contribute an equal percentage. Many public sector pension plans reflect this model of shared responsibility. (At the University of Illinois, faculty and staff pay everything toward their underfunded pensions, with no employer match … but that’s another story.) Chicago Public Schools pay its 7% share PLUS the employee’s share of 7%. In an intriguing alliance between Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, legislation is now advancing to shift the employee contribution to … employees (CPS would continue to pay its 7%). Details here: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150805/BLOGS02/150809927/rauner-suggests-he-and-emanuel-both-favor-curbs-on-unions

Little Person Versus Big Corporation: A Small Victory

If you have a credit card or cell phone, you agreed to a contract clause that requires you to arbitrate your disputes with the corporation. You cannot go to court. Until 2011, some states had laws that disallowed mandatory arbitration when employees and consumers (the most affected groups) sued in a class action. Concrete problem: Your cell provider promised you a free phone, when it wasn’t; or your employer classified you as “exempt,” when you’re not, thereby disallowing overtime pay. Some states had laws that barred these arbitration agreements. The laws allowed class actions on the theory that they were necessary way to police against minor frauds. The Supreme Court invalidated these class-action laws in 2011 (AT&T Mobility LLC v. Conception, 563 U.S. 312). Thus, you are forced to arbitrate your $30 complaint with your cellular company, or your overtime claim for several hundred dollars. If there was a class action lawsuit, nickel-and-diming "shortcuts" would be deterred more effectively. Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board pushed back on Concepcion when it ruled that Neiman-Marcus cannot force its employees to sign waivers of their right to sue in class actions. https://www.law360.com/employment/articles/687650/nlrb-says-neiman-marcus-mandatory-arbitration-unlawful

Doubts About a Union for College Football: Part II

The primary doubt about unionizing college football is that D-I schools fall under three different legal regimes—the National Labor Relations Act (private sector only), state labor laws (some states allow collective bargaining for higher education, e.g., Illinois), and no labor law (states in which all SEC schools are located). How can you have uniform rules of competition? The lead attorney for players suggests the NLRB’s new joint employer model is a solution. He means that the NCAA is a joint employer with Northwestern. He reasons: The NCAA is a private entity, therefore, schools such as Alabama fall under the NLRA because this private entity sets much of the regulations for compensating players. Well, this solves the labor law fragmentation problem. This approach is aided by the NLRB’s recent announcement that it is considering returning to its 1970s definition of a joint employer (broad concept of joint agency). See here: http://www.natlawreview.com/article/nlrb-advice-memo-provides-additional-guidance-joint-employer-standard. The matter also involves McDonalds in a high-stakes enforcement action. https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/fact-sheets/mcdonalds-fact-sheet. In Part III, I’ll share my doubts about this ingenious approach.
  

CEO Pay Ratio Rule: Stunning New Regulation from Securities and Exchange Commission

Quoting from the main federal agency that regulates publically traded corporations and their shareholders: “Today, the Commission takes another step to fulfill its Congressional mandate to provide better disclosure for investors regarding executive compensation at public companies.  As required by Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act,[1] today’s rules would require a public company to disclose the ratio of the total compensation of its chief executive officer (“CEO”) to the median total compensation received by the rest of its employees.[2]  The hope, quite simply, is that this information will better equip shareholders to promote accountability for the executive compensation practices of the companies that they own.”  See here: http://www.sec.gov/news/statement/statement-on-open-meeting-on-pay-ratio-aguilar.html .

Doubts About a Union for College Football: Part I

The NLRB should rule by month’s end that Northwestern’s football players are “employees” under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). They will point to 60 hour work weeks for players and other conditions that look like employment. This will clear the way to open the ballots that were cast last year. But more generally, a union for college players is impractical. Reason 1: The federal labor law (NLRA) applies only to private-sector employers. In the Big Ten, only one school—Northwestern—is under the NLRA. The University of Illinois is under a state labor law, so players here could form a union, too. But Wisconsin repealed its state labor laws (Scott Walker), and Nebraska and Indiana have no laws that allow students to form a union. So, problem #1: No sports league can operate when eligibility and compensation rules differ across teams. Fragmentation of labor laws means that there can be no uniformity for the rules of competition. In Part 2, we’ll explore an idea from the lead union attorney to fix this problem. It’s ingenious … but in Part 3, I’ll discuss my doubts.

Trump’s Businesses Rely on Foreign Workers; No Evidence of Rapists or Murderers

Running a business and a campaign are different enterprises. A Reuters study shows that Donald Trump’s companies applied for 1,100 work visas since 2000. For example, his Mar-a-Lago Club resort in Florida applied to import 70 foreign workers to serve as cooks, wait staff and cleaners. These businesses have been free of immigration violations—and also murder and rape committed by “foreigners.” http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0Q62RQ20150801?irpc=932

Bash Unions Because … Wages Are Growing at a Three Decade Low?

Headline in today’s Wall Street Journal reads, “U.S. Labor Costs Rise at Slowest Pace in Three Decades.” See here: : http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-employment-costs-rise-0-2-in-second-quarter-1438345911. Interesting to note, conservative donor Charles Koch expressed deep concern recently about wage inequality, lamenting “the country’s drift to a 'two-tiered society' that is 'destroying opportunities for the disadvantaged and creating welfare for the rich.'" See here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/charles-koch-decries-corporate-welfare-as-scott-walker-carly-fiorina-court-donor-network-1438490077. He doesn't support unions; and unions don't support him-- but both see the same problem.

Cut Teacher Pay? Remove Tenure? Today’s Teacher Shortage in Kansas

Numerous outlets are reporting today on a growing teacher shortage in Kansas, where pay is now the fourth lowest in the U.S. after severe funding cuts and removing job protection rights. Who is complaining today? Superintendents who cannot fill vacancies. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kansas-teacher-shortage_55b913ebe4b0074ba5a729d5.
Solution from Kansas lawmakers: lift licensure requirements. http://cjonline.com/news/2015-07-14/state-board-passes-controversial-licensure-waiver