The recent split decision of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Circus Circus Casinos, Inc., 366 NLRB No. 110 (June 15, 2018), is a reminder that the validity of an employee’s request for Weingarten assistance at an...more
On May 9, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released their spring 2018 regulatory agendas. There were a few...more
5/10/2018
/ Apprenticeships ,
Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRB ,
NPRM ,
OSHA ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Wage and Hour
On March 23, 2018, the last day before a potential government shutdown, Congress passed and the president is expected to sign a massive $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill to fund the federal government through fiscal year...more
3/23/2018
/ Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Federal Budget ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRB ,
OFCCP ,
OSHA ,
Preemption ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Wage and Hour
On February 12, 2018, the White House released its fiscal year 2019 (FY 2019) budget plan and sent it to Capitol Hill just a week after signing a two-year budget deal lifting the spending caps for 2018 and reopening the...more
On September 15, 2017, the White House announced that President Trump has nominated Peter B. Robb, a management-side labor and employment lawyer with a firm based in northern New England, to be the general counsel at the...more
September 25, 2017, marks a significant turning point in the recent saga of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Eight months into the Trump administration, the U.S. Senate confirmed William J. Emanuel to fill the...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) moved one step closer to undoing President Obama's permanently enjoined “persuader activity” regulation when, on June 12, the agency issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for reverse...more
6/29/2017
/ Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Comment Period ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
LMRDA ,
NLRB ,
NPRM ,
Obama Administration ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Persuader Rules ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Taft-Hartley Act ,
Unions
It's official. On March 27, 2017, President Trump signed the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution (H.J. Res. 37) invalidating the regulations that implemented President Obama’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive...more
On February 24 , 2017, a two-member majority (Members Mark Gaston Pearce and Lauren McFerran) of the National Labor Relations Board, over the dissent of Acting Chairman Philip Miscimarra, struck down yet another handbook...more
On January 26, President Donald Trump announced the designation of current National Labor Relations Board Member Philip Miscimarra as the Board's Acting Chairman, replacing former Board Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce. Miscimarra...more
The traditional frenetic pace of activity in Washington, D.C., following a presidential election has begun in earnest as transition teams are formed for each federal agency, resumes for the 1,300 newly vacant positions are...more
On August 26, 2016, the National Labor Relations Board's Division of Advice publicly released an advice memorandum from December of 2015 in which it found a Section 8(a)(1) violation for an employer's misclassification of...more
In yet another assault on long-established labor law precedent, on May 9, 2016, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Richard Griffin ordered the issuance of NLRB complaints in every case in which an employer...more
On May 31, a divided National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a very significant decision in American Baptist Homes of the West, increasing the impact of an employer’s motive in deciding whether the permanent replacement...more
6/6/2016
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Back Pay ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Reinstatement ,
Right to Strike ,
SEIU ,
Unions
On March 22, 2016, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Richard Griffin released Memorandum GC 16-01, entitled "Mandatory Submissions to the Division of Advice." The memorandum instructs the Board's regional...more
4/22/2016
/ Email Policies ,
English-Only Rules ,
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces ,
Federal Contractors ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Purple Communications ,
Unions ,
Weingarten Rights
On March 23, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued final regulations revising the “advice exemption” and requiring employers and consultants (including lawyers) to report labor relations advice and services under...more
3/26/2016
/ American Bar Association (ABA) ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Consultants ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Final Rules ,
LMRDA ,
NLRB ,
Persuader Rules ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Supervisors ,
Trade Associations ,
Unions
On March 15, 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States created...more
What is on the horizon for labor and employment policy in 2016, the last year of the Obama administration when the president will seek to cement his legacy, and a national election year when the White House and control of...more
1/18/2016
/ Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces ,
Friedrichs v CA Teachers Association ,
NLRB ,
Obama Administration ,
Popular ,
Right to Work ,
SCOTUS ,
Trans-Pacific Partnership ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed the $1.1 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, the omnibus spending bill that will fund all federal agencies and government programs through September of 2016— and the...more
Don't look now, but the U.S. Department of Labor’s latest Fall 2015 Semiannual Regulatory Agenda advances the controversial proposed revisions to the "persuader activity" reporting requirements under the Labor-Management...more
It must be frustrating to be in the minority of an administrative adjudicatory body and to constantly be forced to write dissenting opinions, as was the case for former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Brian E....more
7/23/2015
/ Appeals ,
AT&T ,
Canning v NLRB ,
Communication Workers of America ,
Dress Codes ,
Employment Policies ,
Exceptions ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Recess Appointments ,
Section 7 ,
Special Circumstances Doctrine ,
Unions
On June 24, 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a new decision involving allegations that an employer had unlawfully discharged an employee who had scrawled sexually-oriented obscenities and threatening...more
On April 14, 2015, after a four-year battle, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) final “ambush election” rules, which will dramatically shorten the time between requests for a vote and a union election, go into...more
We expect 2015 to be a very busy year for actions on new or proposed federal regulations in the absence of congressional legislation. That was confirmed on November 21, 2014, when the administration published its “Unified...more
With the Obama administration unable to get labor and employment law changes through a gridlocked Congress, one of its significant accomplishments and lasting legacies may be its remarkable record of reshaping federal...more