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 September 9, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) continued its recent wave of activity in Boeing, 368 NLRB No. 67 (Sep. 9, 2019), by reaffirming its December 2017 decision in PCC Structurals, 355 NLRB No. 160...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”) announced last week that it was proposing a series of rule changes. The first and most important focuses on updating its “blocking charge” policy, as well as revising the rules...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
On April 24, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that arbitration agreements must explicitly provide for class arbitration in order for that process to be available. In a close, 5-4 vote, the justices...more
4/25/2019
/ Ambiguous ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Arbitration ,
Consent ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Jurisdiction ,
Lamps Plus Inc v Varela ,
Motion to Compel ,
Preemption ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS
On April 1, 2019, employers received good news with the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) proposed regulation limiting joint employer liability. As expected (see prior alert regarding NLRB rulemaking), the proposed rule narrows...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
Obama-Era Persuader Rule is Finally Dead -
On July 17, 2018, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) formally announced what has appeared inevitable since President Trump’s election – the Obama-era “Persuader Rule” is officially...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
On Monday, May 21, 2018, the United State Supreme Court, in a 5-4 opinion written by Neil Gorsuch, ended a six-year dispute started by the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) 2012 decision in D.R. Horton, 357 NLRB 2277...more
6/6/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
D.R. Horton v NLRB ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Murphy Oil v NLRB ,
NLRB ,
SCOTUS
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
On the heels of Thursday’s groundbreaking decisions reversing Browning-Ferris and Lutheran Heritage Village-Livonia, in another important decision on Friday, the National Labor Relations Board scrapped the Obama-era decision,...more
The National Labor Relations Board, composed of a Republican majority for the first time in more than ten years, acted quickly to reverse the controversial 2015 Browning-Ferris Industries decision which had drastically...more
On November 7, the House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that would reverse the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) ruling in Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No. 186 (2015), that greatly expanded joint...more
DOL Actions Undercut Obama Administration on Joint Employers and Independent Contractors
In the past week, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) under new Labor Secretary Alex Acosta has moved to dismantle a series of the...more
On Friday, May 26, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals became the latest federal appellate court to weigh in on whether or not arbitration agreements that include class action waivers violate federal labor law, specifically,...more
On March 21, 2017, the Supreme Court upheld an August 2015 opinion by the D.C. Circuit under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act holding that former acting National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Lafe Solomon improperly...more