On June 23, 2025, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont vetoed the state legislature’s latest attempt to provide unemployment compensation benefits to strikers. The vetoed bill, entitled “An Act Concerning Protection for Workers...more
On May 23, 2025, the First Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the National Labor Relations Board’s 2024 decision that police sergeants and sergeant detectives in Northeastern University’s police department were statutory...more
The recent NLRB decision finding that mandatory employer meetings involving unionization discussions are unlawful includes other points that will affect employers....more
Since 1948, Section 8(c) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) had been interpreted to protect the First Amendment right of employers to bring employees together to exchange views, arguments, and opinions about...more
In National Labor Relations Board v. Metro Man IV, LLC, Case No. 07-CA-264407 (6th Cir. Aug. 29, 2024), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit partly upheld and partly reversed a National Labor Relations Board...more
10/10/2024
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hazard Pay ,
NLRB ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
On July 9, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit took the latest step in a continuing controversy about when obscenity or other misconduct by a worker, while raising otherwise protected job complaints,...more
7/25/2024
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Disciplinary Proceedings ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
General Motors ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Section 7 ,
Unfair Labor Practices
In response to thousands of agency complaints it received in 2023, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) issued guidance to hospitals on March 26, 2024, regarding compliance with recent legislation on clinical...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sent an unfair labor practice case back to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) because the agency failed to consider the contract-based defenses of an employer accused of...more
A federal judge in New York recently cast doubt on the validity of state laws that seek to restrict employer speech in connection with union organizing. In New York State Vegetable Growers Association, Inc. v. Letitia James,...more
3/6/2024
/ Agribusiness ,
Agricultural Sector ,
Agricultural Workers ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Labor Relations ,
Motion To Enjoin ,
NLRA ,
Preemption ,
Public Employment Relations Board’s (PERB) ,
State Labor Laws ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
Provisions included in a must-pass budget bill will make significant changes for Connecticut hospitals. These changes, which were embedded in the nearly 900-page Public Act 23-204 signed into law on June 12, 2023, revise...more
7/31/2023
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Relations ,
Nurse Practitioners ,
Nurses ,
Over-Time ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
On June 12, 2023, Governor Ned Lamont signed legislation that imposes significant burdens on Connecticut hospitals concerning nurse staffing plans, staffing committees, reporting requirements, civil penalties for...more
On April 20, 2023, a three-member panel of the National Labor Relations Board (Board) ruled 2-1 in Noah’s Ark Processors LLC, 372 NLRB No. 80 (2023), that a combination of remedies imposed for unfair labor practices by an...more
4/26/2023
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Bad Faith ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or “the Board”) recently issued a decision in McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023), holding that severance agreements containing overly broad non-disparagement or...more
3/27/2023
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Guidance Update ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Section 7 ,
Severance Agreements ,
Unfair Labor Practices
During the past few years, employers have seen efforts to restrict the use of confidentiality and nondisparagement provisions in severance agreements at both the state and federal levels. The National Labor Relations Board...more
2/28/2023
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Reform ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Section 7 ,
Severance Agreements
After a year of consideration including amicus briefs on the matter, the National Labor Relations Board (Board) revived another Obama-era precedent in a decision issued December 14, 2022. In American Steel, 372 NLRB No. 23,...more
On November 3, 2022 the National Labor Relations Board issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that, if adopted, would rescind a rule issued under the prior administration addressing blocking charges, voluntary...more
11/11/2022
/ Blocking Power ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Comment Period ,
Employee Rights ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NPRM ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
On July 6, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board published its decision in Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, 371 NLRB No. 112, adopting the administrative law judge’s (ALJ) decision that a carpenters’ union did not...more
7/15/2022
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Relations ,
Layoffs ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Representatives ,
Unions ,
Workplace Safety ,
Wright Line Test
On June 15, 2022, in Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Inc., 371 NLRB No. 109, the National Labor Relations Board reaffirmed that regional directors have authority to dismiss representation and decertification petitions if the...more
7/11/2022
/ Administrative Hearings ,
Administrative Merits Determinations ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Petition for Review ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Successors ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
In Piedmont Health Services, Inc. and Piedmont Health Services Medical Providers United, Case No. 10-RC-286648, Region 10 of the National Labor Relations Board (Region) issued a Decision and Direction of Election (DDE) in...more
4/12/2022
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Employee Definition ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Physicians ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
On July 13, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law Substitute Senate Bill No. 658, An Act Requiring Employers to Recall Certain Laid-Off Workers in Order of Seniority (Act). ...more
On June 25, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board (Board) decided in College Bound Dorchester, Inc. and Service Employees International Union Local 888, Case No. 01-RC-261667 (2021), that an employer’s challenge to a...more
On June 22, 2021, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation (S.1168-A / A.108-B) requiring the establishment of clinical staffing committees in general hospitals. The staffing committees will be composed of registered...more
6/29/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospitals ,
Infectious Diseases ,
New Legislation ,
Nurses ,
Physicians ,
Public Health
On June 9, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board held that a party’s solicitation of one or more mail ballots constitutes objectionable election conduct that may warrant setting aside an election. Professional...more
On June 7, 2021, Governor Lamont signed House Bill Number 6380, which requires employers to disclose to applicants and employees the salary ranges for positions. Significantly, the law also expands Connecticut’s prohibition...more
The National Labor Relations Board, by a vote of 2-1, recently reversed an administrative law judge (ALJ) in finding that a hospital did not violate the National Labor Relations Act (the Act) by failing and refusing to...more
6/1/2021
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Bad Faith ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dissenting Opinions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hospitals ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions