NLRB, Free Speech, First Amendment

Election Season in the Workplace: Employers’ Essential FAQs for 2024

Fisher Phillips on 9/12/2024

The election season promises to be turbulent, and your workplace will not be immune from the challenges that are sure to face us. What do you need to know about your rights and responsibilities as an employer now that the...more

2024 Election – Can It Be A Hot Topic In Your Workplace?

Robinson+Cole Manufacturing Law Blog on 7/25/2024

With the 2024 election fast approaching, and political news exploding, manufacturers are asking an important question: What is the role of political bobbleheads, pins, stickers, and discussions in the workplace?...more

EntertainHR: Can Employers Do That? The Limits of Free Speech

FordHarrison on 1/17/2024

Public debate about the Israel-Hamas war demonstrates that Americans have strong, and often divergent, views on important social and political issues. Believing that their right to express those views is firmly grounded in...more

Employment Implications Arising from Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Holland & Knight LLP on 6/30/2022

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on June 24, 2022, overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey and holding that there is no right to abortion in the U.S....more

Employee Activism, Safety, and Support Amid Difficult Issues

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 6/30/2022

Recent social and political controversies, such as rulings from the Supreme Court of the United States, international conflicts, and mass shootings, are likely to cause more employees to voice their opinions and frustrations...more

NLRB General Counsel Urges Board to Find Captive Audience Speeches are Unlawful

Franczek P.C. on 4/19/2022

For decades, employers have been permitted to hold mandatory meetings or “captive audience speeches” in response to union organizing campaigns to present the company’s position on unionization. On April 7, 2022, the National...more

Absolute Freedom to Tweet? Employers (and the NLRA) May Have Something to Say About It

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 1/27/2021

Do you need a social media policy or are the legal obstacles just too much? Now more than ever, people are exercising their First Amendment right to free speech, which, not surprisingly, can cause heartburn at the workplace....more

NLRB Seeks Comment: Rats, Banners and Neutrals, Oh My!

Proskauer - Labor Relations Update on 10/30/2020

An age old question under the National Labor Relations Act is what constitutes “picketing”? By the Supreme Court’s definition, picketing is inherently coercive and may not be directed against a neutral employer. An issue...more

The Election Season Is Upon Us: Guidance for Managing Political Expression in the California Workplace

Farella Braun + Martel LLP on 10/27/2020

In a year of extraordinary events, this election has been more divisive and controversial than any other in recent history. Many employers are grappling with how they should manage political expression in the workplace. An...more

Political Speech in the Workplace (And What – If Anything – To Do About It)

Ward and Smith, P.A. on 10/21/2020

Politics could hardly be more conspicuous these days. A monumental presidential election looms on the horizon, and it seems that everyone has an opinion. Many who do have jobs and bring those opinions into the workplace....more

Political and Controversial Activity in the Workplace [More with McGlinchey Ep. 11]

McGlinchey Stafford on 10/16/2020

Election season is in full swing and the climate is certainly charged. In this episode of “More with McGlinchey,” Labor and Employment attorneys Mag Bickford, Rasch Brown, Camille Bryant, and Kathy Conklin discuss employees’...more

Turbulence Ahead: Navigating Political Speech in the Workplace during an Election Year and Global Pandemic

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 10/9/2020

Seyfarth Synopsis: In a tumultuous year full of social unrest, a pandemic, and a Presidential election, it is no wonder employers find themselves grappling with how—and whether—to regulate politics in the workplace. Options...more

When Twitter Fingers Cross a Line: An Employer’s Guide to Navigating Offensive Off-Duty Employee Conduct

Miles & Stockbridge P.C. on 6/15/2020

You don’t need a legal blog to tell you that the country is in a state of extreme unrest regarding the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and so many other Black people, at the hands of police and in...more

Board Overturns Purple Communications, Restores Employer Right to Restrict Email Use

Littler on 12/19/2019

On December 17, 2019, in a 3-1 decision split along party lines, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) restored to employers the right to restrict employees from using company email systems for nonbusiness purposes. The...more

NLRB Reverses Purple Communications – Holds Employer May Restrict Employees’ Use of Email and Other Information Technology Systems

Epstein Becker & Green on 12/18/2019

On December 17, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) ruled that an employer’s rule prohibiting use of its email system for nonbusiness purposes did not violate employees’ rights under the National Labor...more

No, Unions Do Not Have A Free Speech Right To Engage In Unlawful Secondary Boycott Activity, Federal Appeals Court Rules

Proskauer - Labor Relations Update on 10/31/2019

On October 28, 2019, the Ninth Circuit, following in the footsteps of the D.C. Circuit and the Second Circuit, affirmed an order entered by the NLRB confirming that prohibitions on secondary boycotts under Section...more

NLRB Finds Inflatables Debatable

Polsinelli on 6/10/2019

“Scabby the Rat” and “Corporate Fat Cat”…beware. A recent National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) Advice Memorandum has suggested that the use of oversized inflatable rats may constitute illegal secondary...more

NLRB General Counsel Seeks to Deflate Scabby the Rat

Franczek P.C. on 5/20/2019

Scabby, the gnarly, diseased, inflatable rat, has long been recognized as a symbol of a labor protest. During the Obama-era, the National Labor Relations Board likened the use of Scabby to peaceful, protected activities such...more

NLRB Deals Blow To Unions’ Ability To Use Fees For Lobbying Purposes

Fisher Phillips on 3/4/2019

The National Labor Relations Board just decided that private sector unions cannot use fees paid by nonmembers to fund their lobbying efforts. Especially when coupled with last year’s momentous Janus decision at the U.S....more

Omarosa’s NDA Battle – Confidentiality and Context in the Workplace

Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP on 8/24/2018

The business world has much more to learn from the Omarosa Manigault White House battle than just fashionable workplace attire and a flair for the dramatic. The battle between the White House and Omarosa over the scope of her...more

Web Exclusive - June 2018: The Top 18 Labor And Employment Law Stories

Fisher Phillips on 7/10/2018

It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more

Supreme Court Year in Review: Union Agency Fees, Travel Restrictions, and the Retirement of Justice Kennedy

Littler on 7/10/2018

The U.S. Supreme Court closed out its most recent term, which began in October 2017, with a number of high-profile and ground-breaking decisions. ...more

Flipping Out Over Flipping Off: What Are the Limits on Regulating Employee Political Speech?

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 11/9/2017

Around the end of October, a photo of a government contractor employee flipping the bird to President Trump’s motorcade went viral after the woman made it her profile picture on Facebook. She was subsequently fired for a...more

There’s no debate: freedom of speech presents challenging legal issues for workers and employers in the age of social media

Womble Bond Dickinson on 11/3/2017

John Pueschel, partner in the Winston-Salem office of Womble Bond Dickinson, examines the limits on employee free speech and use of social media against the background of recent events at Google and in Charlottesville....more

Racism in Your Spare Time: What Are The Legal Limits for Employers?

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP on 9/13/2017

On Saturday, August 12, as the nation watched, protests in Charlottesville, Virginia regarding the anticipated removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee turned deadly. In the days and weeks after, both the...more

National Labor Relations Board › Free Speech › First Amendment

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