Labor Relations Update

Tag Archives: bargaining units

Here We Go Again: NLRB Foreshadows A Potential Return To Micro-Units

By Joshua Fox, Mark Theodore and Timothy Kelly on Posted in Uncategorized
The ability to form smaller bargaining units by breaking up larger aspects of an employer’s organization—sometimes called “micro-units”—is generally seen as an effort to enhance the ability of unions to gain entry into an employer by making it easier to organize.  Those opposed to the practice, including both employers and trade groups, contend that carving … Continue Reading

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
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

Are Charter Schools Covered by the National Labor Relations Act? NLRB to Reconsider Its Jurisdiction over Charter Schools

By Mark Theodore, Joshua Fox and Austin McLeod on Posted in Bargaining units, Decertification elections, NLRA, NLRB, Section 7
On February 4, the NLRB granted United Federation of Teachers, Local 2, AFT, AFL-CIO’s (the “Union”) request for review of the Regional Director’s Decision and Direction of Election concerning a decertification petition filed by several teachers at a charter school.  In so doing, the Board invited filing of briefs regarding whether the Board should decline … Continue Reading

NLRB Announces Proposed Rule Changing Joint-Employer Standard

By Zach Fasman on Posted in Joint Employer, NLRA
The National Labor Relations Board announced that it will publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking today, September 14, regarding its joint-employer standard. The proposed rule will state that an employer may be considered a joint-employer of another employer’s employees only if it possesses and exercises substantial, direct and immediate control over the essential terms and … Continue Reading

“Micro-Units” Eliminated: NLRB Overturns Specialty Healthcare

By Michael Lebowich and Lee Douthitt on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections, Specialty Healthcare
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’s Micro-Union Standard May Be Set For Reversal

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections, Section 9(a), Specialty Healthcare
Change is coming.  We noted recently that the administration is thinking about changing the newly adopted persuader regulations.  We also know that a majority of make-up of the NLRB is likely to shift very soon, and with it some of the precedents of the last few years will be reversed.  Newly appointed Chairman Miscimarra seems to be reiterating what … Continue Reading

17 Year Old Ruling In Representation Case Can Preclude New Claim For Employees, Divided NLRB Rules

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, NLRB Election Rules, Non-Union employers, Representation Elections, Rulemaking, Specialty Healthcare
Of all the changes to the law the NLRB has made in the last several years, the most significant involve how the agency determines bargaining units.  For example, the NLRB’s decision in Specialty Healthcare drastically altered the manner in which bargaining units were determined by the Regional Directors and the NLRB.  Also, the NLRB’s ambush election rules also … Continue Reading

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
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

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)
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

Hail Mary: NLRB Regional Director Holds College Football Players are Employees

By Michael Lebowich on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Section 7, Uncategorized
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

Sixth Circuit Upholds Board’s Decision in Specialty Healthcare

By Ronald Meisburg on Posted in Bargaining units, Representation Elections, Uncategorized
In the first judicial challenge to the NLRB’s Specialty Healthcare decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has upheld the Board. In Specialty Healthcare the Board held that it will find a petitioned for unit appropriate where the unit is made up of (i) an identifiable group of employees (ii) who share a community of interest with … Continue Reading

Micro Union Case Hits Federal Court Of Appeals

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Non-Union employers, Representation Elections, Rulemaking, Section 9(b), Section 9(c)(5)
One of the NLRB’s most sweeping decisions in decades, Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 357 NLRB No. 83 (August 26, 2011).pdf, has reached a federal appeals court, as the employer seeks to have the decision overturned.  As we have previously discussed, the Board in this case established the micro union standard, where the bargaining unit sought by a … Continue Reading

Employer Meetings, Election Site The Next Targets Of NLRB?

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Employer policies, Handbook, NLRA, NLRB, Objectionable Conduct, Representation Elections, Solicitation
It’s been a quiet few weeks for the NLRB.  Since January 1, the NLRB has issued only a small number of decisions, none of which appear to be noteworthy.  There are, of course, many developments that are in process.  For example, we still do not know the full effect of the NLRB’s decision in Specialty … Continue Reading

NLRB Reveals More Details To Proposed Election Rule Changes

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Bargaining units, General Counsel, NLRA, NLRB, Non-Union employers
As we reported earlier, the NLRB announced it was ready to vote on some proposed amendments to the rules concerning representation elections. There was no indication in the original announcement of about the substance of the changes. On November 29, 2011, NLRB Chairman Mark Pierce disclosed more information in the form of a Board Resolution. … Continue Reading

Briefs filed in NLRB’s Specialty Healthcare case

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections, Section 9(b), Section 9(c)(5)
What a difference a few months can make.  Last December, in Specialty Healtcare and Rehabilitation of Mobile the NLRB invited interested parties to file briefs to consider a number of questions about whether it should consider adopting a new “one size fits all” rule for bargaining units in nursing homes (called “nonacute care” facilities).  The case … Continue Reading
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