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
Negotiations between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) are set to resume this week – just days before a January 15, 2025 resolution deadline before the ILA may...more
1/8/2025
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Compliance ,
Contract Terms ,
Exporters ,
Importers ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Relations ,
Longshoremen ,
Ports ,
Strike ,
Supply Chain ,
Unions
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
Last year, the United Auto Workers (“UAW”) championed what they considered to be a massive win derived from more than 50,000 of its 146,000 members striking at various Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors plants across twenty...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
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
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
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
The National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) has traditionally been limited in ways to remedy violations of federal labor law. Often, the Board is constrained to ordering “make-whole” relief like backpay and employee...more
As of today, so-called “right-to-work” (“RTW”) laws are effective in 27 states. These laws ensure that no worker can be required, as a condition of employment, to join or not join, nor pay dues to, a labor union, as permitted...more
3/28/2023
/ Governor Whitmer ,
New Guidance ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Repeal ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Right to Work ,
Severance Agreements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Union Dues ,
Unions
On January 17, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down certain Trump-era changes to the rules by which the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administers union elections.
As...more
In what is becoming a holiday tradition, consequential National Labor Relations Board rulings continue this December. First, after nearly six decades, the Board has conformed to a rigid test in evaluating whether an employer...more
On Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board issued a groundbreaking decision in American Steel Construction, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 23 (2022), reviving the concept of collective bargaining “micro-units.” Micro-units are...more
On August 29, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued a precedent-shifting decision ruling that it was unlawful for Tesla Inc. to prohibit employees from wearing shirts bearing union insignia....more