The Board is now operating at a full complement and is issuing decisions on a fairly regular basis. Nothing earth shattering in terms of law (which is kind of a relief) but there are some interesting issues worth discussing....more
5/10/2018
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Burden-Shifting ,
Contract Negotiations ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internal Investigations ,
NLRB ,
Property Damage ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Right to Picket ,
Strike ,
Unions
By a vote of 50 to 48 the U.S. Senate confirmed Republican John Ring as a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, giving the agency a full five member complement. Member Ring, whose term expires December 16, 2022, takes...more
As we have seen, there are few things that can be counted on in labor relations. Oftentimes, several experts look at the same problem and come to vastly different conclusions. What is (almost) guaranteed, however, is that the...more
3/15/2018
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Charging Party ,
Credibility ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Internal Investigations ,
NLRB ,
Reversal ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Stereotyping ,
Testimonial Statements ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions ,
Witness Statements ,
Witnesses
The past few weeks on the Labor Board front have been fairly routine, save for, of course, the high drama associated with the NLRB reversing its own decision (lest anyone think this is a super significant development,...more
As we have noted previously, the make-up of the Board currently stands at four out of five total members, divided evenly between two warring factions making it pretty much impossible to change the law which requires a...more
December saw a flurry of decisions by the NLRB as it briefly held a full complement. The Board currently has only four members and so law-changing decisions are less likely to occur until a new member is confirmed....more
In the last few years, December has been a time of change at the NLRB. The last few Decembers have seen precedent overturned and other sweeping decisions issue from the Board.
This December is no different. With Chairman...more
On the eve of Chairman Miscimarra’s departure, the Board has been churning out decision after decision, many of them reversing precedents from the last 8 years.
Today, the NLRB, in Raytheon Network Centric Systems, 365...more
We have noted many times over the years how the NLRB’s zeal to review employer policies, or more correctly, fragments of employer policies, for lawfulness has led to nettlesome issues that rarely, if ever, involve actual...more
Things are moving fast and furiously at the NLRB. Last week we saw the new General Counsel issue a sweeping memo which rescinded many policy guidelines and initiatives of his predecessor and highlighted the Board precedent...more
The new NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb has been fast at work. A short two weeks after being sworn in on November 17, 2017, the new General Counsel issued a memorandum making clear his intention to re-examine much of the...more
12/8/2017
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Independent Contractors ,
Memorandum of Guidance ,
Misclassification ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Purple Communications ,
Rescission ,
Section 7 ,
Unions
It is mid-November, and the Board is at a full complement, and even has a new General Counsel. While we haven’t seen anything significant (or really, anything at all) come out of the newly constituted Board we know the new...more
11/13/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Remedies ,
Arbitration ,
Charging Party ,
Coercion ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Employee Benefits ,
Grievance Process ,
Lockouts ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Section 7 ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Strike ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
By a vote of 49 to 46, the U.S. Senate confirmed Peter B. Robb as the General Counsel of the NLRB. Mr. Robb, who replaces former General Counsel Richard Griffin, is the 33rd person to hold the position since the NLRA was...more
The end of September in most years sees a spate of new NLRB decisions, sometimes dozens, issued on or about September 30, to coincide with the end of the agency’s fiscal year. Not so this past September 30 because of the...more
10/10/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Adverse Action ,
Coercion ,
Email ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Interrogations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Professional Disciplinary Actions ,
Termination ,
Totality of Circumstances Test ,
Trump Administration ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions ,
Witness Statements
In a 49-47 vote today, the Senate confirmed William J. Emanuel’s appointment to the NLRB. Once Mr. Emanuel is sworn in, it will be first time since 2015 that the NLRB has had a full five members. Before 2015, years of...more
Since the change in Presidential administrations, the main topic has turned to what rules will a newly constituted NLRB change? With the addition of Marvin E. Kaplan the Board now has four members, which makes undoing some of...more
One of the fundamental pillars of any remedy doled out by the NLRB is the agency’s requirement that the employer (or union) post a “Notice to Employees,” a bright blue poster detailing the misdeeds of the charged party. Such...more
9/12/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Breach of Contract ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Default Judgment ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Law Violations ,
NLRB ,
Notice Requirements ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
Labor Day is upon us. It is fitting, therefore, to enter the weekend with another case that exemplifies the bizarre world of labor relations. Like the case of the human resource manager who turned on his employer, or the...more
The NLRB suffered a setback this week when its interpretation of Weingarten rights was rebuffed by the D.C. Court of Appeals. This is the same court that recently declared the agency was acting more as an “advocate than...more
8/24/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hospitals ,
NLRB ,
Nurse Practitioners ,
Peer Review ,
Union Representatives ,
Unions ,
Weingarten Rights
Employers can prohibit the use by employees of the names, social security numbers and credit card numbers of customers in furtherance of organizational activities. If this seems like it should have been a foregone conclusion,...more
The NLRB announced this week that Marvin E. Kaplan was sworn in as the agency’s newest Board member. Member Kaplan’s term expires August 27, 2020. The Board complement now stands at four of five members. Congress delayed...more
When bargaining over an agreement, it is common to hear union representatives ask “why do we need such elaborate language in an agreement? We are always reasonable.” To which, the company usually responds, “We think you’re...more
The advent of social media resulted in a feverish effort by the NLRB to keep up with new technology. In reality, the legal standard for evaluating whether conduct is protected concerted activity did not change. Rather, all...more
We are on the verge of the Board majority changing for the first time in approximately a decade. The President’s two appointees, if confirmed, will bring the Board up to a full five members. After the new members are seated...more
7/27/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Officers ,
Filing Grievances ,
Grievance Process ,
Long Term Care Facilities ,
NLRB ,
Nurses ,
Solicitation ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
Labor disputes are passionate affairs. Workplace grievances elicit all sorts of strident behavior. When the dispute involves a group of employees, the effect can become magnified. The exact point at which the stridency of an...more