On August 9, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The Notice, which was issued on August 12, 2019, covers three proposed rules. A majority of the Board is proposing to change the Blocking Charge Policy, the Voluntary Recognition Bar and rules governing union recognition in the construction industry.
The…
In a case that started back in February of 2013 – when Security called 9-1-1 and had police escort non-employee union organizers out of the employer’s cafeteria – the Board “modified” decades of its own precedent. Sort of.
Some background. The National Labor Relations Act requires that employers refrain from interference, discrimination, restraint or coercion…
Have you ever felt that reading the decisions of the National Labor Relations Board is a lot like watching a tennis match? The decisions on key workplace issues go back and forth, back and forth, and you are just stuck watching. The good news, at least, is that lately, employers have been holding serve. Recently,…
As stewards of taxpayer dollars, there are many details that public sector employers must consider when negotiating collective bargaining agreements with their unionized employees. What are the phases of the collective bargaining process? Should outside counsel be engaged for some or all of these phases? How many bargaining sessions will be conducted? What happens after…
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the appeals court that has jurisdiction over federal cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the U. S. Virgin Islands, recently held that a public employer violates the First Amendment of the United State Constitution when it retaliates against an employee based on the employee’s union membership. In reaching…
Another Obama-era National Labor Relations Board policy may be on the ropes. Four years ago, the Board issued its controversial Purple Communications decision. In that case, it determined that employees have the right to use employers’ email systems to unionize and engage in other activities protected under the National Labor Relations Act. You can access…
This morning the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Janus v. AFCSME , holding that requiring public sector employees to pay fair share fees to unions violates the First Amendment. As we discussed in our prior posts , a fair share fee (sometimes called an agency fee) is a fee that non-union members must…
If you have followed our blog over the past year, you are aware of the long and tortured history of the National Labor Relations Board’s joint employer standard. The recent history starts with the Obama Board’s decision to overturn decades of case law. But the saga continued.
Just last month, we reported on the…
The Supreme Court of the United States held today that arbitration agreements, which waive the right to proceed as part of a class or collective action, are enforceable in the employment context. In Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, the Court held that employment agreements that call for individualized arbitration proceedings to resolve workplace disputes…
It appears that a number of labor unions are planning for the potential negative impact of a big decision regarding fair share fees. We have heard from several public sector clients who have been contacted directly, or who have had employees contacted, by labor unions about the potential impact of Janus v. AFSCME Council 31…
