As we have been blogging during the Biden presidency, the National Labor Relations Board has become quite aggressive these days. The aggression toward employers has been shown in the types of conduct the Board finds to be unlawful (like simply holding meetings with employees), the types of relief that the Board seeks (like compensatory damages
NLRB
No (Union) Shirt? No Problem: Fifth Circuit Strips Down NLRB’s Employee Uniform Rules
Can you enforce your uniform policy, even if that means an employee can’t wear a union t-shirt? Earlier this month, in Tesla, Inc. v. NLRB, the Fifth Circuit looked at that very question and ruled for Tesla.
Let’s face it — from UPS employees and Hollywood screenwriters and actors to auto workers and college…
Exercise Your Joints: NLRB Issues Final Rule on Joint Employers
Today, the NLRB issued their Final Rule on what constitutes joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act. This new rule overrides the old 2020 standard, that was much stricter in what type of control had to exist over employees.
Who Has the Power?
Under the new rule, companies or entities can be considered joint…
Open Up the Playbook: NLRB Rules Starbucks Must Produce Document at Hearing or Custodian of the Search
If you don’t already know, Starbucks has been in a pretty big labor dispute, and there are bound to be lessons for all of us. If your company has internal documents about relations with prospective unions, you may have to disclose them in a labor dispute even though pre-hearing discovery is generally not available. You…
Labor Board Maintains Course with Pro-union Agenda
The National Labor Relations Board in 2023 has continued on its pro-union path in all areas of traditional labor law. Many of the NLRB’s actions are the result of the ongoing advice memos which are being issued by General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. We previously have blogged about some of the advice memo topics, such as…
Teach, Hit the Lab, Grade Some Papers and… Unionize? NLRB Rules That Private University Graduate Students Can Unionize
Are PhD students at a private university who also teach courses and grade papers – tasks that are a part of their development but also certainly assist the university – employees who can unionize? The NLRB said yes for a second time. This trend that allows unionization of employees who were once thought to be…
Noncompetes Back in the Crosshairs: NLRB Takes Its Shot at Noncompetition Agreements
Can you still have noncompete agreements with your employees? There has been a lot of buzz about this issue, and this week the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board joined the conversation with a memorandum, GC 23-08, opining that noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act. This continues a…
NLRB Proclaims the Punishment Arrows in its Quiver
If the NLRB finds that you have committed an unfair labor practice (and maybe more than once), just what can it do? In Noah’s Ark Processors, a three-member panel of the board recently took an opportunity to pronounce available punishments for repeat labor offenders, and it was not shy. An administrative law judge determined…
The NLRB’s Proposed Joint Employer Rule – A Directly, Indirectly, Would’ve, Could’ve, Even-if-You-Don’t-Actually Kind of Test for Joint Employment
Last Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) published an anticipated Proposed Rule on joint employer status. The Proposed Rule, which is designed to apply for all purposes under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), including both union representation and unfair labor practice contexts, is important to businesses that rely on labor supplied by a…
Did We Hear That Right? NLRB Holds Discipline for ‘Whore Board’ Graffiti Is Improper
An employee writes “whore board” on a company bulletin board — you can fire him, right? Not according to the NLRB and now the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. In Constellium Rolled Products v. NLRB, the employer’s discipline and the NLRB’s ruling on the resulting unfair labor practice charge is a…