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
Advice
NLRB Takes One Step Closer to Expanding The Possible Damages Awarded to Employees Fired in Violation of the Act
On November 10, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board announced that it is seeking public input to address whether the Board should award consequential damages to make employees whole for economic losses and under what circumstances. See Thyrv, Inc. 371 NLRB No. 37 (2021).
The Board’s traditional remedy for unlawful…
Using a Cat to Chase the Inflatable Rat: NLRB General Counsel Urged Reconsideration of Board Precedent Regarding Banners and Signal Picketing of Neutral Employers
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…
NLRB Office of the General Counsel Advises that Uber Drivers Are Not Statutory “Employees”
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”…
You’ve Got Mail: NLRB Requests Briefing on Standard for Employee Use of Employer Owned Electronic Communication Systems
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…
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…
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…
NLRB Ditches Effort To Expand Weingarten Rights to Non-Union Workplaces
Since the change in Presidential administrations, the main topic has turned to what rules will a newly constituted NLRB change? With the addition of Marvin E. Kaplan the Board now has four members, which makes undoing some of the past few years a difficult task. But a four member Board…