On June 24, 2022, the NLRB sought an order forcing an employer who refused to negotiate with a certified union to pay back wages and benefits to employees that they allegedly could have earned absent the delay in bargaining during the time the employer appealed the NLRB’s certification of the union as the exclusive bargaining representative in federal court.
Continue Reading If Employers Test Union Certification and Lose, Will They Have to Pay?
Earlier this year, the Office of the General Counsel (GC) of the National Labor Relations Board (Board) issued an Advice Memorandum in Case 05-CA-281089 instructing Board Region 5 to issue a complaint alleging that the employer, LT Transportation (a shuttle bus transportation provider), violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act, when it banned nonemployee union organizers from boarding its shuttles because of their identity as union organizers.
Continue Reading NLRB GC Advocates for Limiting Employer’s Private Property Rights
On April 11, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel urged the Board to revive the long-abandoned Joy Silk doctrine, which has not been in effect in nearly 50 fifty years.
Continue Reading NLRB General Counsel Urges The NLRB To Revive The Joy Silk Doctrine For Union Elections
The National Labor Relations Board indicated in January that it may reconsider its legal standard for assessing whether employer work rules violate the National Labor Relations Act, and invited amicus briefs on the subject. Several business groups, including the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, filed briefs on March 8, 2022 urging the Board to maintain its existing standard under The Boeing Co., 365 NLRB No. 154 (2017).
Continue Reading Business Groups Oppose NLRB’s Efforts to Change Work Rules Standard
Scabby the Rat is a familiar sight in disputes between unions and employers. Scabby, a giant inflatable rat with red eyes, fangs, and claws, is often placed outside the places of business of employers with whom a union has a labor dispute (the “primary” employer). Recently, the NLRB again addressed the issue of whether such union protests can be directed against a “secondary” neutral employer who does business with the primary employer but who is not party to the underlying labor dispute.
Continue Reading Scabby the Rat, Coming to a Business Near You? It’s Possible.
The US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Cedar Point Nursery et al. v. Hassid et al., No. 20-107 (June 23, 2021), a case pitting agricultural employee rights to freedom of association and self-organization under California law, against employer private property rights of California agricultural employers, marks a clear victory for property rights.
Continue Reading The Cedar Point Decision: A Victory for Employer Property Rights
On July 27, 2020 the NLRB issued a supplemental decision involving a labor law successor employer, which unilaterally implemented terms and conditions of employment prior to commencing operations. The question presented was whether and to what extent the successor could take further unilateral action, free of the duty to bargain with the union.
Continue Reading NLRB Clarifies Successor Employer’s Duty to Bargain Over New Employment Terms
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has issued its third, and presumably final, decision in the lawsuit challenging the National Labor Relations Board’s new election rules. In the latest order, the Court granted summary judgement in favor of the NLRB on the remaining counts of the complaint.
Continue Reading NLRB Prevails in Remaining Challenges to Election Regulations
On May 30, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a two page order invalidating five elements of the NLRB’s 2019 election regulation, based on Count One of the plaintiff’s complaint. On June 7, the court issued its promised memorandum opinion further explaining that order.
Continue Reading NLRB: Federal Court in DC Issues Promised Opinion on Election Regulations
One day before they were to go into effect, the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. blocked portions of the NLRB’s recently promulgated election rule, but left the agency free to implement the remainder.
Continue Reading NLRB: Elements of Election Rule are Blocked by Court, But Board Implements the Rest