The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued its “Fair Choice-Employee Voice” Final Rule, rescinding portions of its April 2020 union representation procedures on blocking charges, the voluntary recognition bar, and...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises et al. v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce, Nos. 21-5166/22-1219, (June 28, 2024) overturning the Chevron doctrine left open the future...more
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision directing district courts to use the traditional four-part test when evaluating whether a preliminary injunction should issue at the request of the National Labor Relations Board...more
A federal judge for the U.S. Eastern District of Texas vacated the National Labor Relations Board’s new joint-employer rule, finding the rule too expansive. U.S. Chamber of Commerce et al. v. NLRB et al., No. 6:23-cv-00553...more
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
9/22/2023
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Contract Negotiations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Discipline ,
Duty to Bargain ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Repeat Violations ,
Severance Agreements ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Union Elections ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
The National Labor Relations Board has returned to the “totality of the circumstances” test for determining when individual employee action constitutes protected concerted activity. Miller Plastic Products, Inc., 372 NLRB No....more
Overruling crucial aspects of precedent, the National Labor Relations Board has expanded an employer’s duty to bargain with employees under the National Labor Relations Act following the expiration of a labor contract and...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to amend its regulations to allow employee-authorized third-party representatives to accompany Occupational Safety and Health Administration...more
The National Labor Relations Board continued its efforts to facilitate union organizing and upended significant aspects of prior precedent by: (1) making it easier for unions to circumvent the Board’s election procedures...more
The National Labor Relations Board has again revised its standard for assessing whether an employer’s facially neutral work rules (rules that do not explicitly restrict Section 7 activities) unlawfully restrict employee...more
The National Labor Relations Board has returned to its Obama-era standard for determining whether an individual is an independent contractor under the National Labor Relations Act. The Atlanta Opera, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 95...more
Minnesota will soon prohibit employers from requiring employees to attend political or religious meetings, including talks about labor unions. Additionally, similar legislation passed by the New York legislature will likely...more
The National Labor Relations Act does not preempt a company’s state tort claims alleging a union’s intentional destruction of company property during a labor dispute, the U.S. Supreme Court has held in an 8-1 decision....more
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel (GC) Jennifer Abruzzo’s efforts to alter the labor and employment landscape continue. The GC’s latest controversial enforcement memorandum (GC Memo 23-08) asserts that...more
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
5/11/2023
/ Abusive Acts ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Federal Contractors ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Subcontractors ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has returned to its pre-2020 “setting-specific” standards for determining whether an employee’s abusive conduct is protected by the National Labor Relations Act. Lion Elastomers LLC...more
The National Labor Relations Board will release its new joint-employer rule in August. In September 2022, the Board issued its proposed rule for determining joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act under...more
4/18/2023
/ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Governor Whitmer ,
Information Sharing ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Personal Data ,
Right to Work ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
1. The National Labor Relations Board reinstated its previous standard for restricting employee severance agreements. McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023). The Board’s ruling applies to all severance agreements for...more
The National Labor Relations Board has returned to its pre-2020 standard restricting certain confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in departing employees’ severance agreements. McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023)....more
1. More than 220,000 workers participated in over 300 total work stoppages in 2022, according to a Bloomberg Law report. The number of strikes is the highest recorded in 17 years. While the majority of work stoppages involved...more
The union membership rate among private sector workers fell to 6.0% in 2022, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) news release. This is down from 6.1% in 2021 and continues the overall decline since private...more
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
1/9/2023
/ Bargaining Units ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Budget ,
Information Technology ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
In a 3-2 decision, the National Labor Relations Board has reinstated its prior standard providing a more expansive right of off-duty contractor employees to access publicly accessible areas of the primary employer’s workplace...more
Swinging the pendulum back to imposing a higher hurdle for employers seeking to include employees improperly excluded from a proposed bargaining unit, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in American Steel, 372 NLRB 23...more
In a 3-2 decision, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has expanded its own authority to order consequential damages in all cases in which “make whole” relief is appropriate. Thryv, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 22 (Dec. 13,...more