Ryan Quinn
@ryanquinn.bsky.social
Former union organizer, current assistant teaching professor of labor and employment law at @nusl.bsky.social. Co-founder, Organization of Workplace Lawyers (OWL). America’s least-beloved singing cowboy in Salvation Alley String Band. he/him
They will also need to provide pay ranges for an incumbent employee's own position upon request. Repeated failure to do so can result in fines. Employees should report violations to the Attorney General's Office, which has added to its workplace complaint form: www.mass.gov/how-to/file-... 5/5
October 29, 2025 at 8:22 PM
They will also need to provide pay ranges for an incumbent employee's own position upon request. Repeated failure to do so can result in fines. Employees should report violations to the Attorney General's Office, which has added to its workplace complaint form: www.mass.gov/how-to/file-... 5/5
Today is the effective date of Massachusetts's new pay transparency law, which means your local labor law professor is on local news, talking about how pay transparency can be one method for moving toward pay equity. 1/ malegislature.gov/Laws/General...
October 29, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Today is the effective date of Massachusetts's new pay transparency law, which means your local labor law professor is on local news, talking about how pay transparency can be one method for moving toward pay equity. 1/ malegislature.gov/Laws/General...
So we have an incoherent test for "wages" under the Massachusetts Wage Act which ignores the remedial purpose of the statute and which instead uses the legislature's past attempts to remedy narrow judicial interpretations to offer yet another narrow judicial interpretation. 9/
October 22, 2025 at 3:55 PM
So we have an incoherent test for "wages" under the Massachusetts Wage Act which ignores the remedial purpose of the statute and which instead uses the legislature's past attempts to remedy narrow judicial interpretations to offer yet another narrow judicial interpretation. 9/
The Supreme Judicial Court (Wolohojian, J.) lays out a distinction between "ordinary payment[s]...in exchange for labor and services" and other types of compensation "not made solely in exchange for the [employee's] labor or services." This is not a theoretically clear distinction! 5/
October 22, 2025 at 3:55 PM
The Supreme Judicial Court (Wolohojian, J.) lays out a distinction between "ordinary payment[s]...in exchange for labor and services" and other types of compensation "not made solely in exchange for the [employee's] labor or services." This is not a theoretically clear distinction! 5/
Deep cut. I made this in law school for when I had read the books/articles my profs had written and were teaching.
October 1, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Deep cut. I made this in law school for when I had read the books/articles my profs had written and were teaching.
What the NLRB GC is arguing is that federal labor law should preempt state labor law even if federal labor law is not being enforced. That even if the NLRB becomes a non-functioning shell of an agency, states cannot step in. Great news for violators of labor law, I suppose.
September 12, 2025 at 12:28 PM
What the NLRB GC is arguing is that federal labor law should preempt state labor law even if federal labor law is not being enforced. That even if the NLRB becomes a non-functioning shell of an agency, states cannot step in. Great news for violators of labor law, I suppose.
Imagining a world in which unions and the government didn’t kick out and blacklist unions’ most effective organizers.
August 31, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Imagining a world in which unions and the government didn’t kick out and blacklist unions’ most effective organizers.
Unfortunately, “political freedom” does not extend to being a Wobbly or a member of the Communist Party (fuck the fascists, nazis, and bund, though—I agree 100% with those exclusions).
Expelling members who join the Chamber of Commerce or National Association of Manufacturers is a good bit.
Expelling members who join the Chamber of Commerce or National Association of Manufacturers is a good bit.
August 31, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Unfortunately, “political freedom” does not extend to being a Wobbly or a member of the Communist Party (fuck the fascists, nazis, and bund, though—I agree 100% with those exclusions).
Expelling members who join the Chamber of Commerce or National Association of Manufacturers is a good bit.
Expelling members who join the Chamber of Commerce or National Association of Manufacturers is a good bit.
Great stuff in Articles 1 and 2. We’re protecting the religious and political freedom of members! We’re uniting into “one organization, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin,” all workers eligible for membership in industries we cover…
August 31, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Great stuff in Articles 1 and 2. We’re protecting the religious and political freedom of members! We’re uniting into “one organization, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin,” all workers eligible for membership in industries we cover…
We love a union Committee on Naturalization (to assist those who want to naturalize)
August 31, 2025 at 4:22 PM
We love a union Committee on Naturalization (to assist those who want to naturalize)
Today’s flea market find: the 1961 United Mine Workers District 50 Constitution. Lots of fascinating stuff in here (if you are also a labor nerd).
August 31, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Today’s flea market find: the 1961 United Mine Workers District 50 Constitution. Lots of fascinating stuff in here (if you are also a labor nerd).
"Maybe I should start a podcast," he thought, millennially.
August 5, 2025 at 5:27 PM
"Maybe I should start a podcast," he thought, millennially.
I think I might have seen the same short storm? This was the view of the rainbow a little northwest of Concord.
July 18, 2025 at 1:52 AM
I think I might have seen the same short storm? This was the view of the rainbow a little northwest of Concord.
This takes a much more aggressive stance than my prized “Block Bork” pin.
July 17, 2025 at 1:49 AM
This takes a much more aggressive stance than my prized “Block Bork” pin.
Wow, tell me you benefitted from the U.S. dollar serving as the international reserve currency in the post-war period without telling me you benefitted from the U.S. dollar serving as the international reserve currency in the post-war period.
![A black bumper sticker with white text on a light pole. The bumper sticker reads “I [red heart symbol] Bretton Woods.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:3becwjqzj4kooaohxaoeioc2/bafkreicsp3qxx4df5a6cu4wniur753fmfxr3sz4pc742w2xrk4mkys3dqe@jpeg)
June 29, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Wow, tell me you benefitted from the U.S. dollar serving as the international reserve currency in the post-war period without telling me you benefitted from the U.S. dollar serving as the international reserve currency in the post-war period.
New heartbreaking six-word Hemingway short story just dropped.
June 23, 2025 at 3:22 PM
New heartbreaking six-word Hemingway short story just dropped.
Continuing with “things I recently built from cheap stuff at the flea market,” here is an Atstatic D-104 ham radio microphone that controls my Zoom mute. I fixed the microphone’s internal electronics and made an external interface that converts the broadcast switch to a USB signal that unmutes zoom.
June 21, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Continuing with “things I recently built from cheap stuff at the flea market,” here is an Atstatic D-104 ham radio microphone that controls my Zoom mute. I fixed the microphone’s internal electronics and made an external interface that converts the broadcast switch to a USB signal that unmutes zoom.
I finished making a frame for this pinball backglass and added edge-lit LED strips with a dimmer on the back.
I made many mistakes building this (now hidden with paint), but I learned a lot about making picture frames. I may make a few shadow box displays with leftover lengths of boards I prepared.
I made many mistakes building this (now hidden with paint), but I learned a lot about making picture frames. I may make a few shadow box displays with leftover lengths of boards I prepared.
June 20, 2025 at 9:18 PM
I finished making a frame for this pinball backglass and added edge-lit LED strips with a dimmer on the back.
I made many mistakes building this (now hidden with paint), but I learned a lot about making picture frames. I may make a few shadow box displays with leftover lengths of boards I prepared.
I made many mistakes building this (now hidden with paint), but I learned a lot about making picture frames. I may make a few shadow box displays with leftover lengths of boards I prepared.
The Rust-Oleum can is lying to me, on Father’s Day of all days. This can’t be true. We learn this the first day of algebra.
June 15, 2025 at 4:18 PM
The Rust-Oleum can is lying to me, on Father’s Day of all days. This can’t be true. We learn this the first day of algebra.
Labor law (ie the law of Scabby the rat)
May 31, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Labor law (ie the law of Scabby the rat)
I deeply regret not purchasing this pack of Michael Dukakis presidential campaign cigarettes at the flea market yesterday, and I want the world to know that this weird thing exists. (He should have won)
May 12, 2025 at 11:15 PM
I deeply regret not purchasing this pack of Michael Dukakis presidential campaign cigarettes at the flea market yesterday, and I want the world to know that this weird thing exists. (He should have won)
To my shame as a longtime listener to Boston's fantastic public radio stations, I am not great about donating to public radio. Today's illegal, purported cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting were a reminder that it was time to donate. Hopefully this is a reminder to others.
May 2, 2025 at 7:05 PM
To my shame as a longtime listener to Boston's fantastic public radio stations, I am not great about donating to public radio. Today's illegal, purported cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting were a reminder that it was time to donate. Hopefully this is a reminder to others.