NLRA, Protected Concerted Activity, Corporate Counsel

Fifth Circuit Scolds NLRB in Case about Employee Outbursts and Requires Board on Remand to Use Standard it Purported to Overrule

Littler on 7/25/2024

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

Employee Handbooks Remain Under Board Attack

BakerHostetler on 6/21/2024

During the Obama administration, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) stringently reviewed employee handbooks of nonunionized employers to determine whether particular policies infringed on employees’ rights...more

Fifth Circuit Finds Employee's Protest of COVID-19 Measures Protected Concerted Activity

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 3/29/2024

The National Labor Relations Act’s employee protections extend beyond unionized workplaces or those undergoing organizing activities. Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who...more

Post-Labor Day Wrap Up: What NLRB’s 2023 Decisions Mean for Employers

Jackson Lewis P.C. on 9/22/2023

In the weeks surrounding Labor Day 2023, the National Labor Relations Board overturned precedent with decisions and rules significantly impacting both union and non-union employers. The result is labor laws encouraging both...more

There’s No Concerted Action If It’s Just One Employee or If It’s for a Non-Employee, Right? WRONG, Says the NLRB

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC on 9/12/2023

In two opinions released on August 31, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) overruled two 2019 decisions to expand the scope of workers’ concerted activity protections under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Those...more

NLRB Delivers Labor Day Gifts to Unions

Epstein Becker & Green on 9/11/2023

It has been a decision-packed summer at the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”), and the last weeks of summer were especially active, with a number of significant decisions released at the end of August that...more

Labor Board Signals Continued Expansion of Employee Rights: Your Questions Answered

Fisher Phillips on 8/21/2023

A recent Advice Memo issued by the Office of the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) provides all employers – union and non-union alike – with yet another warning that more of your employment...more

Labor Board Issues a Blow to Workplace Conduct Policies: Here’s How Your Employee Handbook May Need to Change Today

Fisher Phillips on 8/3/2023

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) just changed the law again on employee handbooks by modifying the legal standards that for the past six years have provided a commonsense solution for evaluating workplace misconduct...more

Top Five Labor Law Developments for April 2023

Jackson Lewis P.C. on 5/11/2023

The National Labor Relations Board returned to its prior standard for analyzing the legality of disciplining employee misconduct related to protected concerted activity. Lion Elastomers LLC II, 372 NLRB No. 83 (May 1, 2023)....more

NLRB Returns to Decades-Old Standards for Assessing Employee Misconduct at Work

Miles & Stockbridge P.C. on 5/3/2023

The National Labor Relations Board has reverted to decades-old standards for assessing whether employee misconduct during the course of protected activity should be protected under federal labor law. The Board’s move will...more

Employers Must Draft Severance Agreements with Caution After NLRB Renders Critical Provisions Unlawful: 9 Crucial Questions...

Fisher Phillips on 2/22/2023

A pendulum-swinging decision from the National Labor Relations Board yesterday means that severance agreements – in both unionized and non-union workplaces – could once again be deemed unlawful if they could be construed to...more

Top Five Labor Law Developments for December 2022

Jackson Lewis P.C. on 1/9/2023

1. The National Labor Relations Board expanded its authority to include awarding consequential damages in unfair labor practice cases. Thryv, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 22 (Dec. 13, 2022). Monetary remedies for violations of the...more

Explicit Graffiti Case Illuminates The Necessity of Consistent and Uniform Enforcement of Anti-Bias Workplace Rules

Amundsen Davis LLC on 8/15/2022

In Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood v. NLRB, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit addressed the tension between a worker’s Section 7 protected and concerted activity rights under the National...more

Memes, Emoticons, and Social Media ‎Posts as Protected Concerted ‎Activity

Locke Lord LLP on 2/23/2022

To navigate the pandemic, companies and employees shifted to virtual tools and platforms to conduct business and communicate with team members. With this transition into the virtual office space and increased screen time,...more

NLRB General Counsel Announces Intent to Treat Some College Athletes as Employees

Miller Canfield on 9/30/2021

On September 29, 2021, National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memorandum describing her intent to treat scholarship athletes at Division-I Football Bowl Subdivision ("FBS")...more

Don’t Let the Pendulum Hit You as it Swings: NLRB General Counsel Previews a Pro-Labor Agenda

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 8/19/2021

With a new President comes a shift in the balance of power at the National Labor Relations Board. To start, shortly after President Biden took office in January, the NLRB’s sole Democrat, Chairman McFerran, issued several...more

Be Careful About Restricting Employee Communications with Media

Akerman LLP - HR Defense on 8/9/2021

Employers that bar staff from communicating with the media should take another look at those prohibitions, following a recent federal appellate decision finding such a policy unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act...more

The End of an Era? NLRB Holds Lawful Employer’s Rules Restricting Employee Communications on Social Media, But This Pro-Employer...

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 1/13/2021

Seyfarth Synopsis: Last week, the NLRB held in a 2-1 decision that an employer’s rules restricting certain types of employee communications on social media were lawful under the NLRA. However, the Board panel was sharply...more

NLRB: Employer’s Good-Faith Belief in Employee’s Misconduct Insufficient to Justify Terminating Employee Engaged in Protected...

Proskauer - Labor Relations Update on 12/15/2020

As we have often discussed, there is a fine line between protected and unprotected activity. Profane outbursts, deliberate misconduct, or highly-disruptive strikes may fall outside the protection of the NLRA, subjecting...more

September 2020: The Top 16 Labor And Employment Law Stories

Fisher Phillips on 10/12/2020

It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more

NLRB General Counsel: Pandemic Not a Reason to Bypass the National Labor Relations Act

Robinson & Cole LLP on 9/22/2020

On September 18, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) General Counsel (GC) issued a memorandum providing broad guidance reminding employers of their obligations under the National Labor Relations Act (Act),...more

Top Five Labor Law Developments for August 2020

Jackson Lewis P.C. on 9/21/2020

1. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) upheld an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) ruling directing an unfair labor practice trial to be conducted by videoconference because of the COVID-19 pandemic. William Beaumont...more

NLRB Releases More Employer-Friendly COVID Advice

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 9/2/2020

The National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB” or Board”) Division of Advice[1] recently released five memos dealing with issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic—concluding in all five that dismissal of the pending unfair labor...more

July 2020: The Top 17 Labor And Employment Law Stories

Fisher Phillips on 8/4/2020

It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more

NLRB Division of Advice Releases Deluge of Advice Memoranda Discussing COVID-Related ULP Charges, Confidentiality Rules,...

Proskauer - Labor Relations Update on 7/22/2020

On July 15, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) Division of Advice published 16 Advice Memoranda addressing myriad questions posed by various Regional Offices. While a majority of the Memoranda were drafted...more

The National Labor Relations Act › Protected Concerted Activity › Corporate Counsel

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"