On Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board issued a groundbreaking decision in American Steel Construction, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 23 (2022), reviving the concept of collective bargaining “micro-units.” Micro-units are...more
On September 6, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued a draft rule replacing and significantly altering the Trump-era 2020 joint-employer standard. Standard for Determining Joint-Employer Status...more
The chief lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) wants to ban mandatory meetings called by employers during worktime to dissuade employees from joining unions, calling them an “unlawful threat” to...more
The Democrat-majority National Labor Relations Board readied for 2022 by announcing plans to confront two President Trump-era legal tests - one that determines whether an independent contractor is actually an employee...more
1/10/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Employee Definition ,
Franchisee ,
Franchises ,
Franchisors ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Obama Administration ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
Generally, the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) has routinely been enforced by the balance of the nation’s courts over the years, as it codifies accepted deference to parties’ contracts and agreements and has been held to...more
The House of Representatives passed a bill that would overhaul federal labor law with the express purpose of making it easier for unions to organize workers and more difficult for employers to classify them as independent...more
3/12/2021
/ Collective Actions ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Employee Rights ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Pending Legislation ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
On July 21, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “the Board”) issued its decision in General Motors LLC, 369 NLRB No. 127, reviving the Wright Line test and making it easier for employers to discipline an...more
The Movement for Black Lives (“M4BL”), in coalition with the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of Teachers, United Farm Workers, and Fight for 15, recently announced the organization of a...more
On March 31, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) finalized a series of rules, slated for publication on April 1, addressing union elections and recognition, which were originally proposed last August. The three parts...more
On January 12, 2020, the Department of Labor (Department) announced a final rule to revise and update its regulations interpreting joint employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (see prior alert on Department...more
Just before Christmas, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) evaluated two dress code policies limiting - but not prohibiting - employees from wearing union insignia at work. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 368 NLRB No. 146...more
Adding to its recent spate of employer-friendly moves, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued a precedent-shifting decision on December 17, 2019. Apogee Retail LLC, 368 NLRB No. 144 (2019). The 3-1 decision,...more
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) continued its recent wave of significant decisions on September 10, 2019, when it adopted a new standard for analyzing whether an employer’s unilateral change to terms of employment...more
On Friday, September 6, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued its third decision of the summer regarding employers’ ability to restrict access by nonemployees to its property (see prior analysis: Board...more
9/10/2019
/ Kroger ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Employees ,
Off-Duty Employee Access ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Private Property ,
Property Owners ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Protests ,
Section 7 ,
Unions
On August 29, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) refused to extend the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) to create a new standalone violation under Section 8(a)(1). In Velox Express, Inc., 368 NLRB...more
A property owner generally has the right to control access to its property, including the rights to restrict hours of access, to prohibit certain activities when access is granted, and exclude or prevent access. These rights...more
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) recently determined in Johnson Controls, Inc., 368 NLRB No. 20 (July 3, 2019), that a new framework was required to analyze employees’ representation wishes when an employer...more
On June 14, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) issued a 3-1 decision overturning a 38-year precedent regarding non-employee union access to public spaces within an employer’s property. UPMC, 368...more
Last month, a California Court of Appeal reaffirmed that California’s Private Attorney General Act (“PAGA”) is outside the scope of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) and the Supreme Court’s 2018 opinion in Epic Systems v....more
3/29/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Iskanian v CLS Transportation ,
NJLAD ,
NLRA ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Settlement Agreements
The National Labor Relations Board released a series of advice memoranda this week, two of which applied the new Boeing test to determine if a company rule or policy unlawfully restricts employees’ Section 7 right to engage...more
3/20/2019
/ Boeing ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employment Policies ,
Facebook ,
Logos ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Policy Memorandums ,
Social Networks ,
Unions ,
Workplace Attire
On Friday, January 25, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) overruled an Obama-era decision focused on determining whether workers were independent contractors or employees and restored entrepreneurship as a key...more
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) released today a draft rule that would reverse the Obama Board’s 2015 Browning-Ferris Industries joint-employer decision, which greatly expanded the NLRB’s test for determining...more
After a busy eight months since December of 2017 that saw the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issue a number of important decisions addressing topics such as joint-employers (rescinded), company policies, micro-units,...more
On May 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, a 5-4 opinion written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, ended a six-year dispute started by the National Labor Relations Board’s 2012 decision in D.R. Horton. The...more
6/7/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Discovery ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Remedies ,
SCOTUS ,
Unions
Just over two months after the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) reversed the Browning-Ferris decision that re-wrote the test the NLRB used for joint employment (see our December 15 alert here), the Board vacated its...more