Updates
Here are summaries of important legal or procedural changes that affect the latest edition of this product.
If you want to check on the accuracy of any other information in the book, please follow the legal research
instructions in the book or in Nolo's research manual, Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law.
NLRB Rules on Use of Company Email for Union Messages
Effective date:
Dec. 16, 2007
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that companies may ban employees from sending personal email messages, or from sending messages that solicit or proselytize for outside organizations (including union-related messages), without violating the National Labor Relations Act.
In this case, The Guard Publishing Company (.pdf), a divided NLRB also changed the test for determining whether an employer has enforced its policies in a manner that discriminates against union-related activities. The former rule was that an employer that allows employees to use its equipment or other resources for non-work purposes may not discipline employees for using those resources for union-related purposes. The new rule is that an employer may make any number of distinctions -- for example, allowing charitable solicitations while prohibiting solicitations for other organizations, allowing personal messages while prohibiting messages sent on behalf of an organization, and so on -- without violating the law, as long as it doesn't explicitly prohibit only those activities that relate to union issues.
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Minimum Wage Increase Signed by President Bush
Effective date:
Jul. 24, 2007
On May 25, 2007, President Bush signed an emergency spending bill funding the war in Iraq. That bill also amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for a three-stage increase to the federal minimum wage over the next couple of years.
The minimum wage will increase to:
- $5.85 an hour on July 24, 2007
- $6.55 an hour on July 24, 2008, and
- $7.25 an hour on July 24, 2009.
This law will change not only the federal minimum wage, but also the minimum wage rates of states that base their requirements on the federal law. For example, some states -- such as Texas and Virginia -- simply use the federal minimum wage as the state standard, while others have a state standard that is a set amount more than the federal minimum.
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Iowa, Colorado, and Oregon Prohibit Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Effective date:
Jul. 1, 2007
Effective July 1, 2007, the state of Iowa prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Effective August 8, 2007, Colorado prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Beginning January 1, 2008, Oregon will also prohibit discrimination on either basis.
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