In Purple Communications Inc., 361 NLRB No. 126 (December 11, 2014) the NLRB reversed established precedent that employees did not have statutory rights to use their employers’ email resources for union activity. In that case, the Board held that employees that have been given access to their employers’ email systems, must be permitted to use […]
In what is seen as a victory for employers, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued a 3-2 decision in HyBrand Industrial Contractors, Ltd. and Brandt Construction Co. (“HyBrand”) striking down the joint employer standard stated in Browning Ferris Industries of California, Inc. d/b/a BFI Newby Island Recyclery (“Browning-Ferris”), and returning to the pre-2015 […]
There is a flurry of articles on the NLRB decisions last week, reversing Obama-era rulings on the subjects of joint employers (Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors) handbook policies (The Boeing Co.) and the ‘micro-unit standard’ in representation cases (PCC Structurals Inc.) Another case decided last week, which has not received as much attention, will have a very […]
Recently, Jerry Jones – the outspoken owner of the Dallas Cowboys – announced an official policy that any of his players who kneeled during the national anthem would be benched. On October 11, United Labor Unions Local 100, based in Texas, filed an unfair labor practice charge with National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) asserting that […]
Many employers are unsure about the NLRB’s deferral to arbitration rules. For nearly 60 years the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) had applied the “Spielberg/Olin” standard in cases involving whether to defer to a decision reached through a grievance/arbitration procedure in a union contract. Under this standard, the NLRB would defer IF the following factors […]
Many employers have implemented mandatory arbitration policies requiring that all employment related disputes be resolved through final and binding arbitration rather than in traditional court proceedings. In addition to these potential benefits, many employers have added class action waivers to their arbitration policies, in essence requiring that claims be brought on an individual basis only, and […]
With the confirmation of William Emanuel by the Senate on September 25, 2017, the NLRB has a Republican majority. Democrat/union lawyer members had been in the majority for many years. Republican Marvin Kaplan had been confirmed by the Senate on August 2, 2017, and the Republican member Phillip Miscimarra was appointed Chairman by the President […]
The Ninth Circuit, currently joined by two other federal courts of appeal, has adopted the longstanding position of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) that class action waivers commonly found in employment arbitration agreements violate the right to engage in protected concerted activity pursuant to the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). Two other federal courts […]