Author: Ruth Silver Taube (Ruth Silver Taube)

According to the National Labor Relations Board, the agency that enforces private sector labor laws, there were 1,249 union elections in fiscal year 2022, a nearly 50% increase from the year before. Workers voted in favor of unionizing in 72% of those elections, up from 61% in 2021. In recent months, the National Labor Relations...

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed bills that will give California workers important new rights in 2024. SB 616 will increase the number of paid sick days from three days to five effective Jan. 1, 2024. Access to paid sick days is crucial for the health and well-being of California working families. AB 1228 will raise...

Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform our lives. It is now used to read X-rays with greater precision than radiologists and spot cancer growths no human doctor can detect. In one clinical trial, AI helped detect 20% more cases of breast cancer than radiologists. But AI also has risks, particularly in employment where a...

A persistent misconception among American workers is that employers can only terminate them for good cause. This misconception arises, in part, because in other countries such as Mexico and the Philippines, termination can only be for just cause. In the Philippines, an employer must provide two written notices and a hearing once the employer provides...

Child labor violations have been on the rise in recent years. The U.S. Department of Labor has seen a 69% increase in child labor since 2018, with more than 3,800 children impacted in the 2022 fiscal year. A report from the New York Times revealed numerous instances of child labor law violations, with children—particularly migrant...

Economic, social and gender inequalities, as well as war, climate change and violence, are forcing millions of people into migration for employment in domestic work every day, according to the International Domestic Workers Federation. Human Rights Watch says domestic workers in private households are among the most exploited and abused workers, and one of the most...

Standards for exposure to toxic chemicals at work, known as permissible exposure limits or PELs, have long been and still are vastly and indefensibly weaker than standards for environmental exposure to these same toxics. This disparity puts not only workers, but also their offspring at risk—especially where women of child-bearing age are a sizable part...

On April 28, 1970, the OSH Act went into effect. Since that time, workplace safety and health conditions have improved. But despite the progress, too many workers are still at serious risk of injury, illness or death at work. Workers’ Memorial Day, a day of remembrance for workers killed, disabled or injured on the job,...

Residential care facilities for the elderly receive among the largest wage theft judgments of any industry, according to Matthew Sirolly, a staff attorney with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office who advises the agency on how to enforce wage theft judgments. These judgments are meaningless unless they are enforced. Residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs), often...

Structural racism has been an impediment for Black Americans and has had an impact on the economy. If the Black wage, education, housing and investing gaps had been closed 20 years ago, it would have added an estimated $16 trillion to the economy, according to a report by Citi, with the Black pay gap alone accounting...