Category Archives: Deferral

NLRB Gives End of Year Gift for Employers, Restores Longstanding Standard for Deferring to Arbitral Decisions

In yet another end-of-2019 decision overruling significant NLRA precedent, the Board reverted to the less stringent Spielberg / Olin standard for determining whether to defer to arbitration decisions in the context of Section 8(a)(1) and (3) unfair labor practice cases. See United Parcel Service, Inc., 369 NLRB 1 (2019). The Board issued this decision unanimously, … Continue Reading

NLRB Majority Stuns Nation By Ruling Employer Has Management Right, Chairman Dissents

By Mark Theodore on November 11, 2016 Posted in Collective Bargaining, Deferral, General Counsel, NLRA, NLRB, Section 8(a)(5), Unfair Labor Practices

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

NLRB General Counsel Issues Guidance on Deferral to Grievance Arbitration and Settlements

By Ronald Meisburg on February 17, 2015 Posted in Arbitration, Deferral

Following the decision of the National Labor Relations Board in Babcock & Wilcox Construction Co., 361 NLRB No. 132 (December 14, 2014), the NLRB General Counsel has issued Memorandum GC 15-02 (February 10, 2015), which provides guidance to the NLRB regional offices and to the general public regarding the application of that decision in pending … Continue Reading

Is Deferral to Labor Arbitration Awards in Jeopardy?

By Ronald Meisburg on February 10, 2014 Posted in Arbitration, Deferral, NLRA, NLRB

The National Labor Relations Board has issued a press release announcing its intention to revisit precedent created under a pair of Board decisions nearly 59 and 30 years old, respectively. The precedent involves under what circumstances the NLRB will defer to decisions of labor arbitrators in cases where there are pending NLRB unfair labor practice charges … Continue Reading

NLRB GC To Regional Directors: Scrutinize Arbitration Decisions That May Implicate the NLRA

By Mark Theodore on February 1, 2011 Posted in Arbitration, Deferral, General Counsel, NLRB

The Acting General Counsel of the NLRB, Lafe Solomon, continued to shake up the way matters are handled at the agency, by issuing new guidelines for the handling of pre- and post-arbitration cases. The new policy guidelines will have an immediate impact on cases where the employment action (usually a discharge) has prompted both a grievance (alleging … Continue Reading