Michel Vanesse on NLRB

NLRB General Counsel Signals Rollback of Positions Affecting Unionized, Non-Unionized Employers

Once President Trump’s appointees gained a majority of National Labor Relations Board seats this summer, it was only a matter of time before the board began addressing the aggressive pro-employee positions taken by its...more

12/13/2017 / Employee Handbooks , NLRB , NLRB General Counsel , Presidential Appointments , Protected Concerted Activity , Purple Communications , Trump Administration , Unions

NLRB Upholds Rule Prohibiting Disclosure of Confidential Customer Information

Under federal labor law, employees involved in a labor dispute with their employer have the right to seek assistance from the company’s customers. On August 14, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rejected a claim from...more

9/1/2017 / Corporate Counsel , Customer Information , Macy's , NLRB , Protected Concerted Activity , Unfair Labor Practices

Eighth Circuit Says Racist Comment Not Justification for Terminating Striking Worker

Under most employers’ anti-discrimination and harassment policies, an employee who makes overt racist comments toward a co-worker would likely face termination. In addition to the moral and ethical purposes behind such...more

8/25/2017 / Anti-Discrimination Policies , Employer Liability Issues , Employment Policies , Hostile Environment , NLRB , Race Discrimination , Racist Remarks , Replacement Workers , Strike , Title VII

Google and Charlottesville Events Raise Questions for Companies Regarding Employee Political Views

Two recent major news stories again involve the intersection of politics with employment law. In the first matter, Google fired a programmer after he posted an internal document criticizing the company’s diversity...more

8/23/2017 / Adverse Employment Action , Diversity , Employer Liability Issues , Employment Policies , Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) , First Amendment , Free Speech , Google , Hate Speech , Hiring & Firing , NLRA , NLRB , Political Expression , Protected Concerted Activity , Race Discrimination , Retaliation

NLRB Affirms Employer's Right to Terminate Employees Who Disparaged Company's Food Safety Practices

Over the past several years, we have reported on a seemingly never-ending series of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions proclaiming a variety of abusive employee practices as protected behavior under federal labor...more

7/21/2017 / Appeals , Disparagement , Franchises , Hiring & Firing , Jimmy John's , NLRB , Protected Concerted Activity , Reversal , Union Elections

Second Circuit Upholds NLRB Ban on No Recording Policy

Last year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) surprised many employers when it declared illegal Whole Foods’ policy that prohibits employees from video or audio recording in the workplace. The Board concluded that the...more

6/19/2017 / Audio Recording , Employment Policies , NLRA , NLRB , Protected Concerted Activity , Section 7 , Video Recordings , Whole Foods , Workplace Communication

Expletive-Laced Facebook Rant Protected Under Federal Labor Law

Many people have fanaticized about telling their boss what they really think about him or her. Fortunately, most employees have the good sense not to write down what they are thinking about their employer....more

5/5/2017 / Employment Policies , Facebook , NLRA , NLRB , Offensive Language , Protected Activity , Social Networks

New NLRB Chair's Dissent May Point to Future Board Position on Challenges to Employee Handbook Policies

Over the past several years, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has repeatedly found that standard employee handbook provisions violate employees’ rights under Section 7 of the NLRA. These cases conclude that a variety...more

3/16/2017 / Conflicts of Interest , Corporate Counsel , Employee Handbooks , Identity Theft , NLRB , Protected Concerted Activity , Section 7 , Verizon

Supreme Court Agrees to Review NLRB Position on Class Action Arbitration Waivers

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted review of a case that should decide whether employers can include class and collective action waivers in mandatory arbitration agreements signed with individual employees. Under...more

1/23/2017 / Certiorari , Class Action Arbitration Waivers , Federal Arbitration Act , NLRA , NLRB , SCOTUS

NLRB Says Social Media Policy Cannot Prohibit Employees from Posting Pictures of Company Uniforms

At least for now, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) continues its assault on employer social media policies. In a recent Board decision, G4S Secure Solutions (USA), Inc., the majority declared a variety of policies...more

12/14/2016 / Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) , NLRB , Photographs , Popular , Privacy Concerns , Protected Concerted Activity , Section 7 , Social Media Policy , Video Recordings

Federal ALJ Says NLRA Also Protects Employee Social Media Use from Union Interference

Employers are well aware of the National Labor Relations Board’s increasingly aggressive prosecution of employers accused of violating employee rights by attempting to restrict their social media interactions. Earlier this...more

9/27/2016 / NLRB , Protected Concerted Activity , Section 7 , Social Media Policy , Unfair Labor Practices , Unions

Seventh Circuit Upholds NLRB Order to Return Jobs from Mexico to U.S. Facility

The National Labor Relations Act vests the NLRB with broad powers to correct violations of U.S. labor laws. Last month, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed the Board’s broad reach by affirming a decision ordering a...more

9/13/2016 / Corporate Counsel , Enforcement Authority , NLRA , NLRB , Strike , Unfair Labor Practices

NLRB Finds Temp Agency Joint Employer with User of Labor Services

In recent years, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has begun finding separate companies jointly liable for compliance with federal labor laws under a joint or co-employment theory. Most notably, the Board has...more

9/8/2016 / Corporate Counsel , Joint Employers , NLRA , NLRB , Staffing Agencies , Unfair Labor Practices , Union Elections

NLRB Says Employees Spreading Inaccurate Information is Protected Conduct

Yet another chapter in the National Labor Relations Board’s assault on employer social media policies. Earlier this month, the Board rejected Chipotle’s policy that prohibited employees from “posting incomplete, confidential,...more

8/31/2016 / Chipotle Grill , Disparate Impact , NLRB , Protected Concerted Activity , Section 7 , Social Media Policy

NLRB Says General Conflict of Interest Policies Violate Federal Labor Law

Another week, another National Labor Relations Board decision concluding that a standard employee handbook policy violates employees’ rights to engage in protected concerted activity under Section 7 of the NLRA. This time,...more

8/23/2016 / Conflicts of Interest , Corporate Counsel , Employee Handbooks , NLRA , NLRB , Protected Concerted Activity , Section 7

D.C. Circuit Upholds NLRB Position on Illegal Handbook Policies

Over the past several years, the National Labor Relations Board has repeatedly declared standard employee handbook policies illegal because it considered them to violate employees’ rights to engage in protected concerted...more

8/16/2016 / Confidentiality Agreements , Corporate Counsel , Employee Handbooks , NLRA , NLRB , Non-Disparagement Provisions , Protected Concerted Activity , Quicken Loans , Section 7

Federal ALJ Says Ban on Conducting Personal Business in Handbook Violated NLRA Rights

The National Labor Relations Board continues its assault against standard employment policies considered to interfere with employee rights. This time, a federal administrative law judge accepted the Board counsel’s argument...more

8/9/2016 / Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) , Casinos , Corporate Counsel , Employee Handbooks , NLRB , Popular , Protected Activity , Unfair Labor Practices

NLRB Allows Temporary Employees to Form Part of Bargaining Unit for Union Elections

In its 2004 Oakwood Care decision, the National Labor Relations Board concluded that a union seeking to organize a unit of workers that includes both permanent and temporary employees obtained from a third-party agency, must...more

7/20/2016 / Bargaining Units , Collective Bargaining , Joint Employers , NLRB , Staffing Agencies , Temporary Employees , Union Elections , Unions

Appellate Court Split Sets Stage for Supreme Court to Determine Use of Class Action Waivers in Employment Arbitration Agreements

As previously reported in EmployNews, the National Labor Relations Board has issued numerous recent decisions finding that employers’ use of class and collective action waiver provisions in mandatory arbitration agreements...more

6/14/2016 / Arbitration Agreements , Class Action Arbitration Waivers , DirecTV v Imburgia , Federal Arbitration Act , Mandatory Arbitration Clauses , NLRA , NLRB , Section 7 , Split of Authority

Michel Vanesse

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

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