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Sarah is a member of the firm’s Employment and Labor practice group.  She assists public and private sector clients in a variety of matters, including grievance and interest arbitrations, prohibited practice proceedings, and labor negotiations. Sarah also represents employers before state and federal courts and agencies with respect to employment matters ranging from employment discrimination and wrongful termination to tortious interference, breach of contract, and wage and hour claims.

A new California law is the latest litigation target of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”).  Signed into law in September, Assembly Bill 288 amended California labor law to allow the state’s labor board to certify unions and resolve labor disputes in the private sector when the NLRB “expressly or impliedly ceded jurisdiction.”  

When, exactly

New Jersey’s labor peace agreement mandate found in the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization (“CREAMM”) Act is the latest target for lawsuit.  

Under the CREAMM Act, a cannabis company must enter a labor peace agreement with a “bona fide labor organization” as a precondition for licensure.  This is not a unique feature of cannabis

The National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) governs private sector labor relations in the United States. If there is a labor dispute between a private sector employer and an employee, then the National Labor Relations Board typically has jurisdiction – at least, that’s how it’s been until early September. 

Recently, states have sought to challenge the

wo recent appellate arguments underscore the heightened judicial scrutiny facing the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) following the Supreme Court’s decision last summer, Loper Bright Enterprises Inc v. Raimondo. While courts previously granted administrative agencies such as the NLRB deference in their decision making, also known as Chevron deference, under Loper Bright, that deference is no longer guaranteed.  Since the decision, employers have been patiently waiting to see what impact, if any, that ruling will have on the actions of the NLRB.

Last week, two circuits heard arguments that may reshape employer obligations and highlight the new era of judicial scrutiny of NLRB action.

Continue Reading Limitations on the NLRB’s Power: Did Loper Bright Sound the Death Knell? 

On May 23, 2025, a National Labor Relations Board  (“NLRB”) administrative law judge held that a cannabis company violated the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) by laying off store associates without bargaining the impact with their union, and by directly dealing with employees.

While the decision here is not novel, the fact that an administrative

Effective October 1, 2025, access to the Connecticut Family Medical Leave Act (“CT FMLA”) and Connecticut Paid Family Medical Leave Insurance (“CT Paid Leave”) will be expanded to include all non-certified school employees at both public schools and nonpublic elementary and secondary schools in Connecticut.

Under current law, CT FMLA and CT Paid Leave coverage

On June 4, 2025, embedded in an omnibus bonding bill, the Connecticut General Assembly amended the Connecticut Paid Sick Leave Act as it applies to certain employees of municipalities and boards of education.  While the proposed text has passed both the Senate and the House, it will not go into effect until the Governor

On May 20, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of Oregon held that the labor peace agreement (“LPA”) mandate, Measure 119, which requires all state-licensed cannabis businesses to sign a labor peace agreement with a labor union, is preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) in violation of the Supremacy Clause

On April 14, 2025, a cannabis retailer filed suit to challenge the provision of New York’s cannabis law that requires licensed businesses to maintain labor peace agreements with their workers. The New York lawsuit asserts that certain provisions of the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act (“MRTA”) are preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). 

On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (“the Board”) limited an employer’s right to make unilateral changes in the workplace, restoring one of “the oldest and most familiar doctrines” in labor law: the clear and unmistakable waiver standard. 

An employer makes a unilateral change when it modifies certain conditions of employment (mandatory