COVID-19’s impact on workplace matters continues to broaden. The National Labor Relations Board, which has jurisdiction over most private sector employers, announced on Thursday that all union elections within its purview are suspended for two weeks. Importantly, the suspension applies to both in-person and mail-in voting.
The Board implemented the freeze due to concerns over…
On February 26, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board issued a final rule governing joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act. The final rule restores the test that the Board had applied for several decades prior to the 2015 Obama-era decision in Browning-Ferris. The final rule also provides more clear guidance on the issue,…
The flurry of activity from National Labor Relations Board in late 2019 was a fairly consistent drum beat of good news for employers. In many cases, the Board restored decades of precedent that had been upended by the Board during the Obama administration. Some would say the Board restored order and sanity in the world…
If you follow our blog, you know that the National Labor Relations Board’s election rules have been a hot topic over the past several years. The Board’s election rules are critical, because time can often make a difference in whether a union election is won or lost.
In 2011, the Board started the process to…
In 2014, the NLRB held in Purple Communications that employers must allow their employees to use company email systems to engage in union activities and other protected conduct under the National Labor Relations Act. Last year, we reported that the NLRB was set to re-examine the controversial Purple Communications decision. The Board did just that…
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…
