The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is chipping away at employment agreements and other restrictive covenants one clause at a time. In a recent memorandum, the General Counsel said she believes restricting employees...more
2/8/2024
/ Employment Contract ,
Employment Policies ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Moonlighting ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Solicitation Agreements ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Restrictive Covenants
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a controversial decision last year significantly limiting a company’s ability to implement and enforce uniform and dress code policies. In Tesla, Inc., 317 NLRB No. 131 (2022),...more
Employers in New York can no longer discipline employees who opt not to attend “captive audience” meetings under a new state law. Employers generally hold these mandatory meetings to express their views on unionization to...more
The National Labor Relations Board in August broadened the scope of what constitutes “protected concerted activity” under federal labor law with two key decisions. In Miller Plastic Products, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 174 (2023),...more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued companion decisions last month that significantly limit an employer’s ability to change the working conditions of their unionized staff without bargaining with the union....more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) signaled last week its preference that employers voluntarily recognize unions based on “card check” rather than a secret ballot election. In Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC,...more
On Aug. 25, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) published a Final Rule that will reduce the time between the filing of a union election petition and the date the election occurs....more
On Aug. 2, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) set a new standard to evaluate facially neutral work rules in union and nonunionized workplaces when it issued a much-anticipated decision in Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No....more
8/16/2023
/ Balancing Test ,
Boeing ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Retroactive Application ,
Section 7 ,
Unions
The Supreme Court came down hard on unions last month when it held that a company may bring state law tort claims against a union for property damage caused during a strike. The Court held that the federal law governing labor...more
7/13/2023
/ Glacier Northwest v International Brotherhood of Teamsters ,
Labor Disputes ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Preemption ,
Property Damage ,
SCOTUS ,
State Law Tort Claims ,
Strike ,
Teamsters ,
Unions
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “the Board”) continued its course of reversing Trump-era law by issuing a decision last month that will make it easier for workers to establish “employee” – as opposed to...more
7/13/2023
/ Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Entertainment Industry ,
Entrepreneurs ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Right to Control ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
In a continued effort to crack down on provisions in employment agreements, the National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel (“GC”) announced that she will find most noncompete agreements between private sector employers...more
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
5/3/2023
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Misconduct ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Retroactive Application ,
Section 7 ,
Unfair Labor Practices
The NLRB’s decision last month in McLaren Macomb, holding that the mere proffer of a severance agreement containing a broad confidentiality or non-disparagement clause violates federal law, left many employers questioning...more
The National Labor Relations Board last week sent employers into a frenzy over their severance agreements when it declared most standard nondisparagement and confidentiality provisions unlawful and held that even the mere...more
3/1/2023
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Release Agreements ,
Section 7 ,
Separation Agreement ,
Severance Agreements ,
Termination
Employers: Don’t throw out your open-door policy just because your employees are unionizing.
That’s the message the National Labor Relations Board shared this week in cautioning companies against telling their employees...more
A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled earlier this month that the National Labor Relations Board violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in 2019 by issuing certain rules...more
The National Labor Relations Board’s Los Angeles Regional Office (LA Regional Office) decided last week that the University of Southern California, the Pac-12 Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)...more
12/22/2022
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Colleges ,
NCAA ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Student Athletes ,
Student Employees ,
Unions ,
Universities
The National Labor Relations Board issued a flurry of employee-friendly decisions last week, continuing its move away from the more employer-friendly rulings by the Trump Board and, in many cases, returning to or reaffirming,...more
12/21/2022
/ Bargaining Units ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Confidential Employer Investigations ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Independent Contractors ,
Internal Investigations ,
Micro-Unions ,
NLRB ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Protests ,
Unions
The National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday revived an Obama-era standard that will make it easier for unions to organize employees and win elections. In a 3-2 decision in American Steel Construction Inc., the Board...more
12/16/2022
/ Bargaining Units ,
Boeing ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Damages ,
Labor Relations ,
Make-Whole Doctrine ,
Micro-Unions ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Punitive Damages ,
Specialty Healthcare ,
Unions
The National Labor Relations Board announced Tuesday that it was expressly expanding the scope of its traditional “make whole” remedy to require employers to compensate wrongfully terminated employees for all “direct or...more
On September 6, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) issued a much anticipated proposed rule that would broaden the circumstances under which two companies may be held responsible for labor law...more
This week, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) ruled that employers may not stop employees from wearing union insignia in the workplace without good reason. This decision, involving Tesla, Inc.’s dress code...more
A federal appeals court this week ruled that “gender dysphoria” qualifies as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). This decision will give broader protection to transgender and other individuals...more
8/22/2022
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
DSM ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Protection ,
Fourteenth Amendment ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Dysphoria ,
Gender Identity ,
Popular ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Transgender