Signaling a strong shift away from the policy positions of the former administration, Acting National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) General Counsel William Cowen issued a GC Memorandum on February 14, 2025, rescinding 31 GC...more
2/18/2025
/ Employee Rights ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
President Donald Trump has expectedly fired Jennifer Abruzzo, the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and unexpectedly fired Gwynne Wilcox, one of the board’s two Democratic members. The firings mark...more
As previously reported, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals handed Starbucks a victory in NLRB v. Starbucks Corp. by vacating part of an order issued by the National Labor Relations Board (“Board” or “NLRB”) requiring...more
1/24/2025
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Appeals ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Damages ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Reform ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Split of Authority ,
Starbucks ,
Unfair Labor Practices
On Friday, December 27, 2024, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals handed Starbucks a victory by vacating an order issued by the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) on the grounds that the Board exceeded its authority...more
12/30/2024
/ Appeals ,
Back Pay ,
Compensatory Damages ,
Damages ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Reinstatement ,
Starbucks ,
Termination ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Organizers ,
Vacated ,
Wages
On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) made it more difficult for employers to make changes to their employees’ working conditions without approval from their union. ...more
In an apparent effort to publish as many worker-friendly opinions as possible before the transition of power from President Joe Biden to President-elect Donald Trump, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued...more
On November 8, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) handed down its decision in Siren Retail Corp. d/b/a Starbucks, 373 NLRB 135, turning 40-year-old precedent regarding what employers can and cannot...more
On October 23, 2024, Teamsters Amazon National Negotiating Committee (“Teamsters”) filed an unfair labor practice charge (“ULP”) with the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) alleging that, within the past six months,...more
On October 30, 2024, a Texas federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) from using its in-house administrative law judges to oversee administrative proceedings against a...more
As we previously addressed, on June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court struck a blow to the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) and provided employers a major win in Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney, et al., a case involving a...more
Over the past several years, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) under the Biden administration has taken several measures to make union election procedures more union-friendly....more
Update: Since the alert below was issued on March 13, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) appealed the lower court’s decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. On July 19, 2024, the Board filed an...more
7/26/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Franchises ,
Joint Employers ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
New Rules ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Regulatory History ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Staffing Agencies
On the heels of the United Auto Workers’ (“UAW”) successful campaign to organize Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Mercedes-Benz workers in Vance, Alabama chose a different path, rejecting the UAW as their...more
In early 2023, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB or “Board”) decision in McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB 58, revoked employers’ ability to require their employees to keep the terms of severance packages confidential and to...more
4/1/2024
/ Confidential Communications ,
Confidentiality Policies ,
Contract Terms ,
Disclaimers ,
Disparagement ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Profanity ,
Severance Agreements ,
Severance Pay ,
SpaceX ,
Surveillance ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
A National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) rule set to take effect on Monday, March 11 and slated to significantly expand the circumstances in which a company would be deemed a joint employer under the National Labor...more
The Fallout from the NLRB’s Cemex Decision -
As we previously addressed, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) August 25, 2023, decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC overturned long-established...more
On Friday, January 12, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal from Starbucks on a case involving the termination of seven Memphis, Tennessee employees....more
1/23/2024
/ Appeals ,
Elon Musk ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Forum Shopping ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Multi-Factor Test ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Reinstatement ,
SCOTUS ,
SpaceX ,
Starbucks ,
Termination ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
On December 8, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) General Counsel published a Memorandum outlining the differences between the new union-friendly election rule that becomes effective on December 26, 2023 and...more
On August 25, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) decided Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, which lowered the threshold for the Board to issue a bargaining order rather than re-run an election when it...more
11/27/2023
/ Bargaining Units ,
Cemex ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
On September 6, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation prohibiting employers from disciplining employees who choose not to attend captive audience meetings. Enactment of this legislation comes as no surprise,...more
On August 25, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) carried on with its pro-labor march by reviving elements of nearly eighty-year-old precedent. With its decision, Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, the...more
As we previously wrote, five Trump-era changes to the union election process were contested in a lawsuit brought by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). In a January 2023...more
8/25/2023
/ AFL-CIO ,
Ambush Election Rules ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Final Rules ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRB ,
Obama Administration ,
Quickie Election Rules ,
Trump Administration ,
Union Elections ,
Unions
In recent weeks, both the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) and U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) have signaled or put into effect several pro-union initiatives. Collectively, these moves will...more
8/4/2023
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employment Policies ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Persuader Rules ,
Remedies ,
Taft-Hartley Act ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
On June 13, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) carried on with its trend of reversing Trump-era precedent. In its 3-1 decision, The Atlanta Opera, Inc., the NLRB overturned the Trump NLRB’s 2019 decision,...more
In a strikeout for organized labor, the United States Supreme Court recently held that an employer may pursue a lawsuit based on damage caused to its property by a strike.
Glacier Northwest, Inc., a company which...more
6/13/2023
/ Civil Liability ,
Glacier Northwest v International Brotherhood of Teamsters ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Preemption ,
Private Property ,
Property Damage ,
SCOTUS ,
State Law Claims ,
Strike ,
Teamsters ,
Unions