In today’s news and commentary, Apple wins at the Fifth Circuit against the NLRB, Florida enacts a noncompete-friendly law, and complications with the No Tax on Tips in the Big Beautiful Bill.
Apple won an appeal overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company violated labor law by coercively questioning an employee and removing union flyers from a break room. The Fifth Circuit found insufficient evidence to support the NLRB’s claims regarding Apple’s conduct at its Manhattan World Trade Center store. The Court ruled the questioning wasn’t coercive, and Apple fairly enforced its policy of non-solicitation and removal of all unattended written materials, not just union flyers. The case arose from an effort by the Communications Workers of America to organize the Apple store, which ultimately failed to lead to a representation election. The Court did not address Apple’s First Amendment argument, which would have made it more difficult for the Board to police employers’ coercive questioning of employees.
Florida businesses can now more easily enforce noncompete agreements for up to four years under a new law that took effect on July 1st. The legislation, known as the Contract Honoring Opportunity, Investment, Confidentiality, and Economic Growth (CHOICE) Act, became law without Governor Ron DeSantis’s signature. The law requires that courts grant injunctions to enforce noncompete or ‘garden leave’ clauses if contracts meet specific conditions—...
Army Hits Back at ‘False’ Allegations of Power Struggle, Corruption at 90 Battalion The Nigerian Army has dismissed social media allegations claiming internal power struggles, welfare neglect, and...