SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog 

In a decision reversing 30 years of precedent, the Missouri Supreme Court recently abandoned the “exclusive causation” standard previously applied to workers’ compensation retaliation claims in favor of the considerably more lenient “contributing factor” standard. See Templemire v. W & M Welding, Inc., SC93132, 2014 WL 1464574 (Mo. Apr. 15, 2014) (en banc).

In a decision with the potential to change the landscape of major college sports, a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) ruled that scholarship football players at Northwestern University are employees of the university and, therefore, entitled to hold an election to decide whether or not they wish to be represented by a union. Northwestern University immediately stated its intent to appeal the ALJ’s decision, and this matter is likely to end up working its way through the federal courts, and possibly the US Supreme Court.