Although OSHA has the right to conduct private, one-on-one interviews with a company’s non-managerial employees, those same employees have rights too. Those rights include: Keep in mind that an employee’s refusal to cooperate...more
The National Labor Relations Board issued yet another Starbucks decision this past week. Again, the Board upheld an administrative law judge’s opinion that Starbucks violated the National Labor Relations Act during a union’s...more
The top lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is ordering her subordinates to continue to seek injunctions against employers for alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), despite the...more
What happens when the NLRB asks a federal court to remand a case back to the board based on a new case holding to interpret the matter before it, the court does so, and then the board pulls a “bait and switch” to flat out...more
In an 8-1 decision authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, the United States Supreme Court settled the conflict among circuits in setting the standard for issuing 10(j) injunctions sought in unfair labor practice proceedings. In...more
A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge in San Francisco recently ruled that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated the National Labor Relations Act when he commented on labor unions through several media outlets....more
Can you prevent your employees from handing out pro-union paraphernalia if they’re on a paid break? After brewing on the issue, the D.C. Circuit says no, backing baristas in the first of five National Labor Relations Board...more
As we have been blogging during the Biden presidency, the National Labor Relations Board has become quite aggressive these days. The aggression toward employers has been shown in the types of conduct the Board finds to be...more
Can you enforce your uniform policy, even if that means an employee can’t wear a union t-shirt? Earlier this month, in Tesla, Inc. v. NLRB, the Fifth Circuit looked at that very question and ruled for Tesla....more
Today, the NLRB issued their Final Rule on what constitutes joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act. This new rule overrides the old 2020 standard, that was much stricter in what type of control had to...more
If you don’t already know, Starbucks has been in a pretty big labor dispute, and there are bound to be lessons for all of us. If your company has internal documents about relations with prospective unions, you may have to...more
For many, this has been a summer of strikes. Beyond the high-profile, ongoing strike of Hollywood writers and actors, union actions have secured outcomes like substantial pay increases for UPS drivers and commercial air...more
The National Labor Relations Board in 2023 has continued on its pro-union path in all areas of traditional labor law. Many of the NLRB’s actions are the result of the ongoing advice memos which are being issued by General...more
8/4/2023
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Union Membership ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
Are PhD students at a private university who also teach courses and grade papers – tasks that are a part of their development but also certainly assist the university – employees who can unionize? The NLRB said yes for a...more
7/19/2023
/ College Athletes ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Graduate Students ,
Independent Contractors ,
NLRB ,
Private Schools ,
State Labor Laws ,
Student Athletes ,
Student Employees ,
Unions
If the NLRB finds that you have committed an unfair labor practice (and maybe more than once), just what can it do? In Noah’s Ark Processors, a three-member panel of the board recently took an opportunity to pronounce...more
In Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. Int’l Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union 174, the Washington Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether a union is responsible for property damage incident to a strike. How does that issue...more
If you are considering using video cameras or other surveillance in your workplace, state law might have something to say about it. There are many reasons you might want to use video cameras in your workplace – employee...more
A ruling of the National Labor Relations Board in favor of an employee fired for using vulgar language on a company bulletin board was affirmed in August by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia...more
9/22/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Discipline ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Offensive Language ,
Over-Time ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Protests ,
Remand ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
Union efforts to organize workers are on the rise. Most notably, several high-profile employers are at the forefront of recent union campaigns, including Amazon, Starbucks and now Apple. Employees at Amazon’s Staten Island,...more
4/26/2022
/ Amazon ,
Apple ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Regulations ,
Labor Relations ,
Starbucks ,
Union Elections ,
Union Membership ,
Union Organizers ,
Union Representatives ,
Unions
Employers take note — there is a new NLRB general counsel in town, Jennifer Abruzzo, and she intends to make some changes. Specifically, she issued a recent memo that proposes change to long-standing law about what are called...more
So, the union has an agreement with the company’s management that only those on their predetermined qualification list can be selected for a job. Would that list, or at least the administrative arm for that list, be...more
Law and Practice Chambers -
The 2020 Chambers US Regional Employment Guide features guidance on employment law across 14 states and includes a unique state comparison tool for readers. The guide provides expert legal...more
10/29/2021
/ Alabama ,
Black Lives Matter ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Discrimination ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Gig Economy ,
Harassment ,
Health and Safety ,
Immigration ,
Interviews ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Privacy Laws ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
Technology ,
Termination ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Roughly 15 months ago the word “Zoom” would have conjured up images of cartoon race cars or maybe Dr. Seuss’ Go Dog Go book. Such images not only show our age but reflect how much our world has changed since the COVID-19...more
President Biden issued his executive order on “Worker Organizing and Empowerment” on April 26, 2021. In it, he stated that “it is the policy of my Administration to encourage worker organizing and collective bargaining.” In...more
Although most employers don’t want a union in their workplace, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is clear: You cannot interfere with union organizing efforts. A federal district court in Kentucky recently followed this...more