Michael Lebowich
Partner
Michael J. Lebowich is a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Labor-Management Relations Group. He represents and counsels employers on a wide range of labor and employment matters, with a particular interest in the field of traditional labor law.
Michael acts as the primary spokesperson in collective bargaining negotiations, regularly handles grievance arbitrations, assists clients in the labor implications of corporate transactions, and counsels clients on union organizing issues, strike preparation and day-to-day contract administration issues. He also has significant experience in representation and unfair labor practice matters before the National Labor Relations Board.
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The Board continues churning out precedent-setting decisions as year-end approaches. Two days before the Christmas holiday, in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 368 NLRB No. 146 (Dec. 16, 2019), the NLRB applied its new view on handbook rules—the Boeing test—to Wal-Mart’s policy that employees can only wear “small, non-distracting” union insignia in the workplace, holding that the … Continue Reading
Still hard at work as we head into mid-September, the National Labor Relations Board, in a 3-1 decision (Chairman Ring and Members Kaplan and Emanuel in the majority, Member McFerran dissenting) announced a three-step test which clarifies how petitioned-for partial workforce units are analyzed under the traditional community of interest factors. In 2017, the Board … Continue Reading
On August 14, 2019, the NLRB issued its first decision addressing employer conduct related to mandatory arbitration agreements and Section 7 activity since the Supreme Court decided Epic Systems Corp v. Lewis, 584 U.S. __, 138 S.Ct. 1612 (2018). In Epic Systems (discussed more fully here), the Supreme Court held that agreements between employers and … Continue Reading
Continuing its efforts to overturn precedent, the NLRB General Counsel’s Division of Advice has issued a new advice memorandum looking to strike at the most recognizable sign of unionism in urban areas today – – the inflatable rat that is used to signal a labor dispute to the public. It has been long held by the Supreme … Continue Reading
On January 25, 2019, in a long-anticipated decision, the NLRB overturned another Obama-Board decision, FedEx Home Delivery, 361 NLRB 610 (2014), which modified the test for whether an individual is an “employee” or an independent contractor under the NLRA (read about that decision here). The Board, in a 3-1 decision (Chairman Ring and Members Kaplan … Continue Reading
In what could signify the beginning of the end for Purple Communications, Inc., 361 NLRB 1050 (2014) and guaranteed employee access to Employer computer systems for union organizing purposes, the NLRB issued a notice on August 1 inviting the filing of briefs on whether the Board should uphold, modify or overrule the decision. Under Purple … Continue Reading
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 rules. As we reported this past December (here), … Continue Reading
In an unexpected and critical turn of events, after extensive political pressure, the NLRB, sitting as a three-member panel comprised of Chairman Kaplan and Members Pearce and McFerran, vacated last year’s decision in Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors, Ltd., 365 NLRB No. 156 (Dec. 14, 2017) due to Member William Emanuel’s participation in the decision. Prior to … Continue Reading
Adding to the list of falling precedents in the waning days of Chairman Miscimarra’s term, on Friday, the NLRB reversed another of the seminal decisions of the Obama-Board when it overruled the highly controversial Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 357 NLRB 934 (2011) decision. The 3-2 decision in PCC Structurals, Inc., 365 NLRB … Continue Reading
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 exercise of Section 7 rights … Continue Reading
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit joined the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits in upholding the Board’s Specialty Healthcare standard for determining appropriate bargaining units under the National Labor Relations Act, although with a very skeptical eye on how it applied. Constellation Brands, U.S. Operations, Inc. v. NLRB, … Continue Reading
On November 16, 2016, in National Federation of Independent Business v. Perez, No. 5:16-cv-00066, a federal judge in Texas issued a permanent injunction preventing the Department of Labor (the “DOL”) from enforcing its new interpretation of the Labor-Management Disclosure Act’s “Persuader Rule.” The new DOL interpretation would have required far more expansive public disclosure by law … Continue Reading
Returning to a decision it made 16 years ago (but was overturned just 4 years after that), the National Labor Relations Board has once again ruled that it will certify a bargaining unit containing individuals from two or more separate employers without those employers’ consent. In Miller & Anderson, Inc., Case 05–RC–079249 (July 11, 2016), … Continue Reading
Last April, the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) implemented it’s new expedited union representation procedures. On June 10, 2016, in Associated Builders and Contrs. Of Tex v. NLRB, 15-cv-50487 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 10552 (5th Cir. June 10, 2016) the Fifth Circuit upheld the new procedures, commonly called “quickie” election rules – – rejecting the … Continue Reading
For thirty-two years, it has been a settled proposition that an employer may, upon the expiration of a contract, refuse to continue to negotiate with a “mixed-guard” union that represents its security guards. Continuing its long path of upsetting established precedent, on June 9, 2016, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) reversed this … Continue Reading
On Friday, February 19, 2016, the National Labor Relations Board invited interested individuals and organizations to file amicus briefs on two important legal issues where the Board is considering overturning existing precedent. In one case, King Soopers, Inc., NLRB, No. 27-CA-129598 (2/19/16), the NLRB’s General Counsel has asked the Board to change its long-standing practice … Continue Reading
With that the NLRB’s quickie election rules going into effect in April 2015, we are just now starting to see the Board decide cases applying the new rules. In Danbury Hospital, Case 01-RC-153086, the Regional Director for Region 1 on October 16, 2015, lent his interpretation to one of the new requirements of the quickie … Continue Reading
While some people may have been on vacation at the end of August, the past few weeks have been extremely busy at the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”), with a series of decisions that will continue to make it easier for unions to organize non-union employers. Virtual Organizing Has Arrived! The General Counsel … Continue Reading
Citing “changing economic circumstances, particularly the recent dramatic growth in contingent employment relationships,” in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., 362 NLRB No. 186 (August 27, 2015), a 3-2 National Labor Relations Board majority (Pearce, Hirozawa, McFerran) significantly revised and broadened the standard for assessing joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act. The primary justification … Continue Reading
Earlier this year, in the case of Browning –Ferris Industries of California, Inc., 32-RC-109684, the NLRB invited parties to submit briefs on whether the Board should change its long-held standards for assessing when two separate entities should be treated as “joint employers”. Late last week, the Board’s General Counsel submitted a brief advocating for a … Continue Reading
On March 26, 2014, Peter Sung Ohr, the Chicago Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) ruled that members of the Northwestern University football team receiving athletic scholarships are employees, and not students, under the National Labor Relations Act, allowing them the opportunity to unionize through an NLRB election. First and Ten: A … Continue Reading
Last month, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in UNITE HERE Local 355 v. Mulhall, a case claiming that a neutrality agreement violated § 302 of the Labor-Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 186, the anti-union bribery statute which makes it a crime for an employer to give “money or other thing of value” to a union. … Continue Reading
Employee use of social media remains at the forefront of issues at the National Labor Relations Board. Coming on the heels of the NLRB General Counsel’s decision to issue a complaint against an employer who fired an employee for her postings on Facebook (the first time such on-line activities were considered “protected, concerted activity” by the … Continue Reading
The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a business relocation decision in Embarq Corporation, 356 NLRB No. 125 (2011), which would not have been noteworthy if not for Chairman Liebman’s concurrence. Chairman Liebman signaled that the Board may be ready to revisit its longstanding analysis regarding a business’ obligation to bargain with a union and … Continue Reading
Buttoning Up Rules on Union Insignia – Board Makes It Easier for Employers to Restrict Size and Scope of Union Buttons For Those With Customer Contact Work
By Michael Lebowich, Joshua Fox and Abigail Rosenblum on Posted in Buttons, NLRA, NLRB, Section 7, Section 8(a)(1)
NLRB Puts a Finer Point on Its Community of Interest Test with a New Three-Step Analysis
By Michael Lebowich and Laura Franks on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Specialty Healthcare
NLRB Issues “Epic” Decision Concerning the Intersection of Mandatory Arbitration Agreements and NLRA Section 7 Rights
By Mark Theodore, Michael Lebowich, Steven Porzio, Joshua Fox and Laura Franks on Posted in Arbitration, NLRA, NLRB, Section 7
Using a Cat to Chase the Inflatable Rat: NLRB General Counsel Urged Reconsideration of Board Precedent Regarding Banners and Signal Picketing of Neutral Employers
By Michael Lebowich and Joshua Fox on Posted in Advice, NLRA, NLRB, Section 8(b)(1)(A)
Another Obama-Board Decision Overturned: NLRB Reverts to Traditional Common-Law Agency Independent-Contractor Test and Foreshadows Potential Rulemaking
By Joshua Fox, Meika Freeman and Michael Lebowich on Posted in Collective Bargaining, NLRA, NLRB, Rulemaking, Section 7
You’ve Got Mail: NLRB Requests Briefing on Standard for Employee Use of Employer Owned Electronic Communication Systems
By Michael Lebowich and Jordan Simon on Posted in Confidentiality, Email, Employer policies, NLRA, NLRB, Section 7, Social Media
NLRB General Counsel Issues Handbook on Handbook Rules
By Michael Lebowich, Joshua Fox and Jay M. Cohen on Posted in Advice, General Counsel, Handbook, NLRA, NLRB, Non-Union employers, Section 7, Uncategorized
ABOUT FACE! Under Pressure, NLRB Vacates Joint Employer Standard and Returns to Browning-Ferris
By Michael Lebowich, Joshua Fox and Jordan Simon on Posted in Joint Employer, NLRA, NLRB
“Micro-Units” Eliminated: NLRB Overturns Specialty Healthcare
By Michael Lebowich and Lee Douthitt on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections, Specialty Healthcare
Here We Go: The Full Board Finally Starts to Make Its Mark
Micro-Units under the Microscope: The Second and Fifth Circuit Courts Consider Specialty Healthcare and Its Misapplication
Permanent Pause to Persuader Rule: Texas Court Issues Permanent Nationwide Injunction
By Michael Lebowich and Lee Douthitt on Posted in Department of Labor, Persuader Rules
Stuck With It: Labor Board Forces Employers to Recognize Bargaining Units that Contain Employees of Two or More Separate Employers
By Michael Lebowich, Corinne Osborn and Rebecca Sivitz on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRB
In for the Long Haul as the Fifth Circuit Upholds NLRB’s “Quickie” Election Rule
By Michael Lebowich and Steven Porzio on Posted in NLRA, NLRB
Board Reverses 32-Year-Old Rule Allowing Employers to Oust Mixed-Guard Unions
By Michael Lebowich and David Bayer on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Section 9(b)
NLRB Requests Amicus Briefs in Two Significant Cases
By Michael Lebowich and Steven Porzio on Posted in NLRB
NLRB Issues Union Friendly Decision Regarding Applicability of Quickie Rules: When 94% Just Ain’t Enough
By Michael Lebowich and Steven Porzio on Posted in NLRB
The National Labor Relations Board says “Happy Labor Day” with Flurry of Late Summer Pro-Union Moves
By Michael Lebowich, Corinne Osborn, Steven Porzio and David Bayer on Posted in NLRB
Too Close for Comfort? NLRB Departs from Long Standing Joint Employer Standard
By Michael Lebowich and Nayirie K. Mehdikhani on Posted in Employer policies, NLRB
General Counsel Office Advocates Dramatic Change to Joint Employer Standard
By Michael Lebowich on Posted in General Counsel, NLRB
Hail Mary: NLRB Regional Director Holds College Football Players are Employees
By Michael Lebowich on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Section 7, Uncategorized
A Race to Nowhere: Supreme Court Dismisses Neutrality Agreement Case
By Michael Lebowich on Posted in NLRA, Uncategorized
NLRB General Counsel Allows Discharge for Inappropriate “Tweeting”
Is the Board Ready to Move on Relocation Decisions?
By Michael Lebowich on Posted in NLRB, Relocation
