Archinect - News

Noncompetes to be banned in the U.S. after FTC ruling

2024-04-24T11:36:00-04:00

The Federal Trade Commission has announced a rule banning noncompetes in the United States. According to the FTC, the ban seeks to “promote competition” by “protecting the fundamental freedom of workers to change jobs, increasing innovation, and fostering new business formation.” The rule is expected to go into effect in six months.

The rule will not apply to existing noncompetes for senior executives (workers earning more than $151,164 annually and who are in policy-making positions), although employers cannot enter into or enforce new noncompetes for senior executives. In all cases, employers must provide notice to workers bound to an existing noncompete that the agreement will not be enforced against them in the future.

Related on Archinect: A Guide to Salary Transparency Laws Across the United States. Image: Pixabay

Noncompetes can be used in the U.S. to impose contractual conditions on employees that prevent workers from taking a new job or starting their own business, the FTC n...

BNIM details the firm's transition to an employee-owned company model

2024-01-11T20:05:00-05:00

Kansas City-based architecture firm BNIM recently announced its decision to transition to an employee stock ownership plan (or ESOP) and trust.

The move was made in the fall and was brought about by an apparent desire to hand over control to younger employees, its senior leadership says. BNIM feels they are now better positioned for the future and sees the new ownership model as something that better relates to its core values and organizing mission to “design and deliver beautiful, integrated environments to inspire change and enhance the human condition.” They are now one of just a handful of known ESOP firms in the industry, following Zaha Hadid Architects, Gensler, Make Architects, SHoP, Design Workshop, HDR, and several others.

In a new sit-down interview with Bloomberg CityLab, BNIM principals Laura Lesniewski and James Pfeiffer described the effects the transition has had on the firm's work culture, client interface, and recruitment efforts. They say the lead-up to the decis...

White House seeks public help on AI risks to labor conditions

2023-05-16T11:48:00-04:00

The White House has announced that it is seeking the public’s help in understanding the risks posed by artificial intelligence to labor conditions. The public request for information (RFI), led by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, is centered on how AI tools are “used by employers to surveil, monitor, evaluate, and manage workers.”

“Employers are increasingly investing in technologies that monitor and track workers, and making workplace decisions based on that information,” the White House said in a statement announcing the RFI. “While these technologies can benefit both workers and employers in some cases, they can also create serious risks to workers.”

Among labor concerns cited by the White House were nurses being required to wear RFID badges to track their location and proximity to other hospital workers or patients, rideshare and delivery drivers having their speed, location, and acceleration monitored, office workers having software on their computers re...

Strike at Taubman College and the University of Michigan continues as student workers and staff assistants demand fair wages

2023-04-26T17:52:00-04:00

A group of 40 striking graduate student instructors and staff assistants at the University of Michigan Taubman College have reportedly had their April wages taken from them in response to their participation in a campus-wide movement that has sought improved working conditions and better pay for workers.

The school’s retaliatory move was met with ire, with the strike now going on for nearly a month. Protestors have already been met with police violence and say the University’s latest tactic constitutes an escalation in the midst of bargaining efforts that are, for now, ostensibly stalled.

Solidarity! Here are striking international grads picketing at Taubman College right this moment. Their chants are streaming into the architecture studios. pic.twitter.com/DoPQoretgk
— Grad Employees' Org UMich #OnStrike (@geo3550) April 26, 2023

In an open letter to Taubman's Dean Jonathan Massey, supporters of the strike wrote, “Such retaliation is wrong. Taubman College’s leadership should come ...