On Monday, the full National Labor Relations Board unanimously dismissed a petition by college football players at Northwestern who sought permission to unionize. This decision effectively overturned the regional director’s ruling last year that college players on scholarship should be classified as employees based on the control exercised over them by the athletic department of
The NLRB Expands Employee Protections Yet Again: Will There Be Anything Left Not Considered Protected Concerted Activity?
Continuing a trend we’ve reported on in previous blog posts, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently handed down yet another decision expanding the protections afforded to employees under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
In Sabo, Inc., 362 NLRB No. 81, the NLRB held that Sabo, a vending-machine servicing company, illegally terminated
President Obama Vetoes Congressional Resolution Aimed at Blocking the NLRB’s “Quickie Election” Rule
On March 31, 2015, President Obama used the fourth veto of his presidency to prevent passage of S.J. Res. 8, a congressional resolution aimed at blocking implementation of the NLRB’s “Quickie Election” Rule. The NLRB Rule, which will benefit organized labor by speeding up the union election process, is set to go into
Union Avoidance in The Face of the NLRB’s New “Quickie Election” Rule
This past December, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its Final Rule implementing an accelerated process for conducting union representation elections—the
“Quickie Election” Rule. The new regulations are to go into effect on April 14, 2015. Various trade groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have already filed legal challenges seeking to invalidate the
DC Circuit Puts On its Thinking Cap when Addressing NLRB Ruling on Hat Restrictions
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently struck a blow for employer’s rights to regulate headgear, specifically baseball caps. In World Color (USA) Corp. v. NLRB, the DC Circuit reviewed the NLRB’s order that World Color’s restrictions on employees wearing certain types of baseball caps at work was
It’s All in the Family: Shifting Standards for Joint-Employer Liability
The concept of joint-employer liability is popping up in the news a lot again. This is because the NLRB is taking a more aggressive view on joint-employer standards under the National Labor Relations Act, particularly as to how these standards apply in the franchisor-franchisee setting. In December, the NLRB filed complaints in 13 different regions
NLRB Upholds Employee Terminations for Facebook Rant
A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about the recent line of NLRB cases examining what constitutes “protected, concerted” activity in the context of employees engaging in profane, insulting, or disrespectful conduct or talk about their jobs or their supervisors. As I noted, there is a clear trend at the NLRB to find
Triple Play Sports Bar Appeals NLRB’s Recent Facebook “Like” Decision
In an earlier post, I wrote about the NLRB’s most recent social media decision. In that case, the NLRB held that Triple Play Sports Bar and Grille’s termination of two employees for their participation in a profanity-laced Facebook discussion about Triple Play’s owners violated the employees’ right to engage in “protected, concerted” activity under
NLRB: Facebook “Like” is Protected, Concerted Activity Under the Labor Act
The NLRB recently issued another case on employer social media policies, ruling that clicking Facebook’s “Like” button can constitute “protected, concerted” employee activity under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
A former employee of Triple Play Sports Bar and Grille, a non-union employer in Watertown, Connecticut, was upset that Triple Play’s owners had under-withheld her