As we near the end of the agency’s fiscal year on September 30, the NLRB is churning out many significant decisions. On September 10, the Board issued a sweeping decision concerning an issue that has divided the NLRB and D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals (as well as the First and Seventh Circuits, and partially, the … Continue Reading
The NLRB continues to churn out decisions post-Labor Day. On September 4, in a 2-1 decision, (Chairman Ring and Member Kaplan, with Member McFerran dissenting), the NLRB found that E.I. DuPont De Nemours did not violate the NLRA by unilaterally implementing changes to its company-wide retiree medical and dental plans based on the unions’ waiver … Continue Reading
Summer is winding down but the NLRB continues to be a source of vigorous activity. The Board recently issued a sweeping decision regarding the lawfulness of arbitration agreements. Also, the Board announced its intention to change the so-called ambush election rules. Of course, the Board continues to issue decisions on a regular basis. Discussion of some of … Continue Reading
On the eve of Independence Day, the NLRB, in a 3-1 decision (Member McFerran dissented), clarified the law concerning withdrawal and enunciated a new framework for determining whether a union has retained majority support at the conclusion of a contract term. In Johnson Controls, Inc., 368 NLRB No. 20 (2019), the Board significantly streamlined the … Continue Reading
In an Advice Memorandum dated April 16, 2019, but released on May 14, 2019, the NLRB’s General Counsel staked out a position in one of the most contentious and influential questions in labor and employment law today: Whether or not Uber drivers – and by implication, potentially, other “gig economy” workers – are statutory employees … Continue Reading
Information requests in the realm of labor relations are simple in theory but can be complicated in practice. We have seen how the topics of information sought by a union can cause skirmishes, sometimes deliberately so. We also have seen that it almost never is a good idea for a party to just deny a request for relevant information … Continue Reading
An employer’s duty to provide information to the union representing its employees is a frequent of topic of interest to labor relations practitioners because it is very easy to violate the law. For example, an employer’s assertion that the information is confidential is not enough to justify failing to turn over the information. And, for a brief period of time … Continue Reading
Recently, we explored how the NLRB’s rules for determining the timeliness of a representation can be confusing. Another area of complexity comes from whether a decertification petition will be processed in the face of unfair labor practice charges filed by the incumbent union. This implicates the Board’s “blocking policy,” which is a set of guidelines designed to address … Continue Reading
In prior posts, we have discussed how information requests made in the context of a bargaining relationship can be vexing. The standard of the employer’s obligation to provide information can be a moving target, depending on the make-up of the NLRB. For example, for a brief period of time we saw how an employer could be found to have to … Continue Reading
The NLRB has been in a period of dormancy. When the make-up of the Board changed, a lot of people expected an onslaught of NLRB decisions reversing the reversals of precedent made by the agency in the last 8 years. Except for a couple of brief periods, most notably in December when then-Chairman Miscimarra departed, … Continue Reading
Since December 2017, when the Board issued a number of decisions which restored precedent that had been changed in the last few years, (discussed here, here, here, and here), not much of note has been happening at the Board. Indeed, there was not a full complement at the Board until April when Chairman Ring was confirmed. Two upcoming events may see … Continue Reading
As we have noted previously, the make-up of the Board currently stands at four out of five total members, divided evenly between two warring factions making it pretty much impossible to change the law which requires a majority. It also means the precedent the new General Counsel has highlighted will not be reviewed until a … Continue Reading
December saw a flurry of decisions (discussed here, here, here and here) by the NLRB as it briefly held a full complement. The Board currently has only four members and so law-changing decisions are less likely to occur until a new member is confirmed. Board cases still proceed through the courts. Sometimes, as we have seen here and here, a federal … Continue Reading
On the eve of Chairman Miscimarra’s departure, the Board has been churning out decision after decision, many of them reversing precedents from the last 8 years. Today, the NLRB, in Raytheon Network Centric Systems, 365 NLRB No. 161 (December 15, 2017), returned to the longstanding law of the NLRB that there is no duty to … Continue Reading
When an employer and a union sit down to bargain they often agree to ground rules for how negotiations are to be conducted. A common ground rule, for example, is for the parties to agree to address “non-economic” items before addressing economic proposals. Other ground rules include things like confidentiality of negotiations (becoming increasingly rare as unions want to take their … Continue Reading
A significant change in NLRB precedent during the last few years was the added requirement that an employer bargain over discretionary aspects of discipline in the period between the union acquiring representational rights and the first contract. Given the limited set of circumstances one doesn’t see a whole lot of these cases. A recent NLRB … Continue Reading
During the last several years, the NLRB has overturned a great deal of existing precedent. Among other changes, the Board has required bargaining over discipline in newly organized units, found graduate students to be employees entitled to organize, and found that two employers may have to bargain together. The Board also changed the longstanding rule … Continue Reading
The NLRB recently issued a rare decision completely dismissing all allegations against an employer; rarer still because it was unanimous. In Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital, 365 NLRB No. 79 (May 15, 2017) the NLRB was confronted with a situation where an employee-union adherent engaged in behavior ultimately found to be inappropriate and unprotected. The employer, a … Continue Reading
What would the holiday season be without a Christmas gift case? A perennial problem for labor relations personnel is whether the yearly Christmas turkey given to employees is something that an employer must bargain over before (bah humbug) discontinuing. See, e.g., Q-1 Motor Express, Inc., 323 NLRB 767, 775 (1997). In a decision issued shortly … Continue Reading
In another example of the inconsistency of the current state of Board law, a 2-1 majority of the NLRB ruled that an employer not only had a management right but it wasn’t necessary that this right be expressly set forth in the parties’ contract. This is certainly odd because the NLRB went out of its … Continue Reading
The end of another NLRB fiscal year is upon us. Today, September 30, marks the last date of the fiscal year. We can expect to see a number of decisions issue from the Board, and many determinations made at the regional level, as the agency attempts to pump up its case processing statistics. We will … Continue Reading
The first day of employment is often chaotic. New employees must learn their way around the jobsite, meet (and remember the names of) many new people and otherwise familiarize themselves with working at a new job. Oh, and there’s the paperwork. Seemingly endless mounds of paperwork. New employees are asked to sign a multitude of documents … Continue Reading
Collective bargaining agreements, do not, and cannot cover every issue that will arise during their term. Matters concerning terms and conditions of employment that are not addressed in the labor contract have to be negotiated before changes can be made. Sometimes, however, the parties agree that management can make changes to certain terms and conditions of … Continue Reading
The NLRB has been active but quiet during the last few months as the agency quietly reaffirms decisions nullified by the Supreme Court. By all accounts, however, and as history has proved, the NLRB is getting ready to issue an onslaught of law-changing decisions as we head into the holiday season. This onslaught of change … Continue Reading