The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently held that an employer’s proposal and adherence to proposals could in itself be deemed to be unlawful bad faith bargaining. District Hospital Partners, 375 NLRB No. 55...more
In the 21st century world of employee relations, most corporate cultures and mission statements include a tenet regarding employee engagement. Engaged employees are believed to be more productive and less likely to leave for...more
When faced with potential employee organizing activity, some employers react by trying to address worker grievances through alternatives to union representation. Sometimes these approaches involve establishing an internal...more
In any FLSA lawsuit involving unionized workers, the defense lawyer must always look for a preemption defense. That means that the lawsuit is not properly before a Judge because it involves union contract interpretation, the...more
In Corporation of the City of Calgary v Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 583, 2023 CanLII 20867 (AB GAA), Arbitrator James T. Casey dismissed the union’s grievance of an employee’s job termination, finding that his off-duty...more
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
Sometimes employers believe they have all the evidence they need to discipline or terminate an employee, even without having talked to the employee and hearing the employee’s side. Why waste time talking to the employee when...more
Executive Summary: It is quite rare when a three-judge panel on a court of appeals overrules prior precedent. Yet, that is exactly what happened on March 30, 2022, in Pittsburgh Mailers Union Local 22 v. PG Publishing Co....more
On April 4, 2022, in Fraser Health Authority v British Columbia General Employees’ Union, 2022 CanLII 25560, Arbitrator Koml Kandola of the British Columbia Labour Relations Board dismissed the union’s grievance respecting...more
Since we last wrote on the topic of COVID-19 vaccination policies, another vaccination policy was upheld at arbitration, this time, requiring employees to receive a third “booster” shot against COVID-19. ...more
In Bunge Hamilton Canada, Hamilton, Ontario v. United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, Local 175, the arbitrator found that a mandatory vaccination policy requiring unvaccinated unionized employees to be placed on unpaid...more
In Bunge Hamilton Canada, Hamilton, Ontario v. United Food and Commercial Workers Canada, Local 175 (Bunge), Arbitrator Robert J. Herman dismissed a union grievance challenging the employer’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination...more
On November 19, 2021, in Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113 v. Toronto Transit Commission and National Organized Workers Union v. Sinai Health System, 2021 ONSC 7658 (TTC/Sinai Decision), the Ontario Superior Court...more
The Sixth Circuit, in a split decision, held that a dispute between a union and an employer regarding retiree healthcare benefits was not arbitrable because the issue of retiree healthcare benefits was not encompassed within...more
On July 29, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the “Second Circuit”) handed down what amounts to a significant win for the collectively-bargained dispute-resolution process set forth in the...more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently overturned a 2016 decision holding that an employer violates Sections 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by failing to provide notice and an...more
On May 21, 2020, the NLRB issued a decision in Altura Communication Solutions, LLC. The case asked the Board to consider whether a series of broad proposals made by the employer during collective bargaining amounted to bad...more
We have often reported about how an employer’s failure to adequately respond to an information request made by a union can lead to unfair labor practice charges and litigation. Sometimes a union makes an information request...more
The National Labor Relations Board recently overturned a decision issued in 2014 and returned to its time-honored standard for post-arbitral deferral in unfair labor practice cases alleging discipline or discharge in...more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) delivered two New Year’s gifts to employers regarding deferral to arbitration and restrictions on union buttons....more
The Trump National Labor Relations Board (Board or NLRB) gifted employers a significant win on the eve of the Christmas holiday with its December 23 decision in United Parcel Service, Inc., 369 NLRB No. 1 (UPS), which...more
In yet another end-of-2019 decision overruling significant NLRA precedent, the Board reverted to the less stringent Spielberg / Olin standard for determining whether to defer to arbitration decisions in the context of Section...more
On December 23, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB, or the Board) overturned an Obama-era decision regarding deference to labor arbitration proceedings....more
On July 2, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit handed a significant victory to New York’s home care industry. In Abdullayeva v. Attending Home Care Services, the appellate court reversed a lower court’s...more
The alternative dispute resolution landscape continues to evolve for employers with unionized workforces. Anheuser-Busch, LCC, 367 NLRB 123 (May 22, 2019), is the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) latest decision on the...more