Labor News & Commentary March 19 Starbucks seeks to apply recent Supreme Court precedent on free speech & more

[Omaha Steve]

https://onlabor.org/march-19-2025/

By Henry Green

In today’s News & Commentary, Colorado unions push their state to join Montana in requiring just cause protection and Starbucks seeks to apply recent Supreme Court precedent on free speech to the NLRB’s analysis of employer threats.

The Colorado AFL-CIO and SEIU Local 105 have filed a ballot measure that would make Colorado the second state in the country to mandate just cause protection. Montana has had statewide just cause protection since the 1980’s. As a fascinating article from the Niskanen Center discusses, Montana’s Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act emerged as a legislative compromise after judges created exceptions to the state’s at-will employment scheme that led for large damage awards for fired workers.

The proposed Colorado law would prohibit companies with more than eight employees from firing a worker without just cause, which under the measure’s definition includes the employer’s financial instability or the employee’s substandard performance, neglect, or conviction for a crime of “moral turpitude.” Workers fired without just cause could sue for reinstatement, backpay, and attorney’s fees. The measure comes as Colorado unions are also seeking to pass a senate bill that would eliminate a right-to-work-like measure in the state.

FULL story at link above.