Last year about this time, the NLRB changed the standard for reviewing handbook rules. The new standard takes into consideration the fact there are many other interests other than the NLRA at play in a workplace, and seems to have quieted the frenzied scrutiny of employer policies. Over the
Handbook
NLRB Finds Employer Effectively Repudiated Unlawful Handbook Rule…and RecusalGate Continues
The Board issued an interesting decision discussing an employer’s successful efforts to repudiate unlawful conduct, which we’ll get to in a minute. In our last post, we discussed a simmering dispute over the circumstances which an NLRB member must recuse himself or herself. This issue, we’ll call it Recusalgate, has…
Arbitration Class Waivers, Past Practice (not established) and Skirmishing Over Information Requests All Part of Recent NLRB Action
NLRB General Counsel Issues Handbook on Handbook Rules
Following up on the NLRB’s decision in The Boeing Company, 365 NLRB No. 154 (Dec. 14, 2017), on June 6, NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb issued a new Guidance Memorandum (18-04) detailing how NLRB Regional Offices receiving claims of improper employment policies are to interpret employer workplace…
Handbook Wars – Common Sense Returns NLRB Overhauls Standard for Legality of Work Rules
We have noted many times over the years how the NLRB’s zeal to review employer policies, or more correctly, fragments of employer policies, for lawfulness has led to nettlesome issues that rarely, if ever, involve actual employees. The results have been absurd and have raised an entire cottage industry of…
Here We Go: The Full Board Finally Starts to Make Its Mark
NLRB Reverses Precedent on Joint Employer Liability and Standard Governing Employee Handbooks
This afternoon, just two days prior to the end of Chairman Philip Miscimarra’s term, the NLRB issued a pair of 3-2 decisions overruling significant precedent regarding joint-employer status and the legal standard governing whether workplace rules violate the…
Divided NLRB Rules Employer Policy Protecting Customer Information Is Lawful
Employers can prohibit the use by employees of the names, social security numbers and credit card numbers of customers in furtherance of organizational activities. If this seems like it should have been a foregone conclusion, a recent case from the NLRB shows how the agency’s continued parsing of employer policies…
NLRB Overturns Election Win For Employer That Failed To Timely Serve Voter List (Even Though Union Received List In Timely Fashion)
The NLRB is down to three members, the bare minimum required to conduct business, and so cases are being issued somewhat sporadically.
The so-called ambush election rules have received a lot attention over the last few years. We recently discussed here a case where the NLRB found that a union…