Michael Pavlick at K&L Gates LLP

NLRB Weakens Secret-Ballot Elections in Union Campaigns, Increasing Unionization Perils

On 25 August 2023, the Cemex decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) upended 52 years of Board law that had previously enshrined the secret-ballot election as the default method for union certification....more

9/6/2023 / Collective Bargaining , Employee Rights , Employer Responsibilities , Labor Relations , NLRA , NLRB , Union Elections , Unions

NLRB Imposes Strict New Limits on Employer Work-Rules

Introduction - On 2 August 2023, a divided National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) held in Stericycle that employers violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act) when they issue facially neutral...more

8/11/2023 / Employee Rights , Employment Policies , NLRA , NLRB , Section 7 , Unions

NLRB Imposes Stricter Independent Contractor Test on Employers

Introduction - On 13 June 2023, the National Labor Relations Board held, in The Atlanta Opera, Inc., that it would return to a prior, employee-friendly standard for determining whether workers are employees or independent...more

6/16/2023 / Employee Definition , Employee Rights , Employees , Independent Contractors , NLRA , NLRB , Unions

NLRB General Counsel Seeks to Outlaw Most Noncompetition Agreements

Introduction - On 30 May 2023, the Office of the General Counsel (the General Counsel) of the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) issued a policy memo (30 May GC Memo) expressing its position that noncompetition...more

6/2/2023 / Employees , NLRA , NLRB , Non-Compete Agreements , Restrictive Covenants , Section 7

NLRB Expands Protections for Employee Abusive Conduct, Returns to Setting-Specific Standards

INTRODUCTION - On 1 May 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) held in Lion Elastomers1 that whether employers violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act) when they take adverse employment action...more

5/19/2023 / Employees , NLRA , NLRB , Protected Concerted Activity , Section 7 , Unions

NLRB General Counsel Issues Compliance Guidance on Recent Ruling Limiting Severance Agreements

Introduction - On 22 March 2023, the Office of the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (General Counsel) issued a policy memo (March 22 GC Memo) clarifying the recent McLaren Macomb decision by the National...more

3/28/2023 / Confidentiality Agreements , NLRA , NLRB , Non-Disparagement Provisions , Section 7 , Severance Agreements

NLRB Imposes Broad Restrictions on Severance Agreements

Introduction - On 21 February 2023, a divided National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) held in McLaren Macomb that employers violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act) when they present employees with...more

2/27/2023 / Confidentiality Agreements , Employee Rights , Employees , NLRA , NLRB , Non-Disparagement Provisions , Section 7 , Severance Agreements

NLRB Broadens Joint Employment Standard

Last week, the National Labor Relations Board reversed long-standing precedent and ruled that a company may be a joint employer of another company’s workers if it has the right to control those workers, even if that right is...more

9/4/2015 / Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc. , Collective Bargaining , Franchisee , Franchisors , Independent Contractors , Joint Employers , NLRA , NLRB , Staffing Agencies , Subcontractors , Unions

To Pay or Not To Pay: Payment of Wages under Federal Wage and Hour Law

“These violations reflect one of the problems we’ve found in the oil and gas extraction industry—employees are improperly classified as exempt from the FLSA and are not paid the proper wages in accordance with federal law.” -...more

3/7/2013 / Department of Labor (DOL) , Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) , Independent Contractors , Misclassification , Recordkeeping Requirements , Wage and Hour

Michael Pavlick

K&L Gates LLP

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