February 25, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) followed through on its earlier promise and issued its Joint Employer Final Rule, officially reversing the Board’s 2015 Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI)...more
The Trump National Labor Relations Board (Board or NLRB) gifted employers a significant win on the eve of the Christmas holiday with its December 23 decision in United Parcel Service, Inc., 369 NLRB No. 1 (UPS), which...more
1/3/2020
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Babcock & Wilcox Construction ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Contract Terms ,
Disciplinary Proceedings ,
Employment Contract ,
Filing Grievances ,
Grievance Process ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions ,
UPS ,
Wrongful Termination
The Trump National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) continues to reshape the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act) with new decisions that reverse precedents and undo legal restrictions placed on employers during the Obama...more
12/23/2019
/ Caesars ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Confidential Information ,
Electronic Communications ,
Email ,
Email Policies ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Rights ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Activity ,
Purple Communications ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Dues ,
Unions ,
Workplace Communication ,
Workplace Investigations
On the eve of the holidays, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) delivered an early Christmas present to employers with its issuance of new regulations governing the NLRB election process. While not scraping the Obama...more
On October 12, 2019, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1291 (“AB 1291”) into law, which requires companies to sign a so-called “labor peace” agreement with a union or risk losing their cannabis license; thereby,...more
10/24/2019
/ Business & Professions Code ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Preemption ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Supremacy Clause ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Organizers ,
Union Representatives ,
Unions
While bargaining, unions often demand that employers produce information relevant to the bargaining process so that the union may fulfill its duties as bargaining representative. Under the law and absent some compelling...more
A flurry of critical cases have issued out of the NLRB over the past two weeks. The latest is the Board’s decision in MV Transportation, 368 NLRB No. 66 (2019), and the Board’s decision provides critical cover to employers...more
9/12/2019
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Contract Interpretation ,
Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Good Faith ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unilateral Modification ,
Unions ,
Waivers ,
Working Conditions
It is lawful to discipline and even discharge an employee for making inappropriate or offensive remarks in the workplace. Indeed, current anti-harassment and anti-bullying laws may require an employer to take adverse action...more
9/12/2019
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Offensive Language ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Racist Remarks ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
In the organizing context, the scope of a potential bargaining unit is everything-it determines which employees’ votes will count towards establishing a union’s putative majority in a secret ballot election, and determines...more
Setting clear and reasonable standards for taking access to an employer’s private property is high on the National Labor Relations Board’s agenda. Not only is the Board talking about issuing formal rules in this area, but the...more
9/11/2019
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Dismissals ,
Disparate Treatment ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Kroger ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Private Property ,
Property Owners ,
Reversal ,
Right of Access ,
Solicitation ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Organizers ,
Union Representatives ,
Unions
Does an employer who genuinely believes that its workers are independent contractors and tells them that they are contractors and not employees, only to later find out that it was wrong, violate Section 8(a)(1) of the...more
9/6/2019
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Review ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Former Employer ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Reversal ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Wrongful Termination
Employers wishing to implement class action waivers in response to class claims and discipline employees who refuse to sign them just got some very good news from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) in Cordua...more
In its 84-year history, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB, Board or Agency) has promulgated a very small number of rules pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act, relying, instead, on individualized adjudications...more
8/14/2019
/ Construction Industry ,
Corporate Counsel ,
New Rules ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NPRM ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Elections ,
Union Representatives ,
Unions
The National Labor Relations Act’s (NLRA or Act) Section 7 grants to all employees — regardless of whether they are unionized or not — the right to engage in protected concerted activity (PCA). Accordingly, an employer may...more
8/2/2019
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Section 7 ,
Strike ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions ,
Wal-Mart
Unionized workers wishing to rid themselves of continued union representation (and their employers) just got some very good news from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) with the issuance of Johnson Controls,...more
UberX and UberBLACK Drivers Are Not Employees for Purposes of the NLRA -
According to the NLRB General Counsel’s Division of Advice (GC), Uber’s UberX and UberBLACK drivers are independent contractors exempt from the...more
7/3/2019
/ Antitrust Violations ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Delivery Drivers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Local Ordinance ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
State Labor Laws ,
Uber ,
Wage and Hour
A unionized employer must bargain with its employees’ union before making any unilateral changes in employees’ wages, hours, working conditions or other terms and conditions of employment. Such changes are commonly referred...more
On June 14, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) issued an important decision clarifying whether and when an employer may lawfully exclude union organizers from its privately owned public spaces. Under...more
Does an employer automatically engage in unlawful discrimination when it grants an improved benefit to its non-union employees but withholds the improvement from its union employees who are covered by a collective bargaining...more
6/6/2019
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Contract Terms ,
Disparate Treatment ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Union ,
Paid Leave ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
It is unlawful for unions to secondarily picket construction sites or to coercively enmesh neutral parties in the disputes that a union may have with another employer. This area of the law is governed by the National Labor...more
5/24/2019
/ Construction Industry ,
Construction Workers ,
General Contractors ,
Land Developers ,
Land Owners ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Right to Picket ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
The circumstances under which an asset buyer has a duty to bargain with an incumbent union may be changing. In NLRB v. Burns Security Services, Inc., 406 U.S. 272 (1972), the Supreme Court held that an employer who purchases...more
4/10/2019
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Duty to Bargain ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Terms ,
Exceptions ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Successors ,
Unions
In The Boeing Company, 365 NLRB No. 154 (2017), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reassessed the standard it would apply when determining the facial validity of otherwise neutral work rules based upon a balancing...more
In yet another case that impacts both union and non-union employers, the Republican-majority National Labor Relations Board (Board) overruled Obama-era precedent and substantially narrowed what is considered “protected...more
A California Superior Court judge recently issued an order granting the Service Employees International Union’s (“SEIU”) petition for writ of mandate under the California Public Records Act (“CPRA”) and ordered the California...more
5/18/2018
/ California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) ,
CDPH ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitals ,
Invasion of Privacy ,
Labor Relations ,
Licensees ,
Long Term Care Facilities ,
Material Dissemination ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Petition for Writ of Mandate ,
SEIU ,
Skilled Nursing Facility ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
On April 11, 2018, former management lawyer John Ring was confirmed via a 50-48 party-line vote to serve on the five-member National Labor Relations Board (“Board”). Ring will replace Chairman Marvin Kaplan, another member of...more
4/27/2018
/ Appeals ,
Boeing ,
Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Presidential Appointments ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions