Following the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) highly-controversial decision in McLaren Macomb declaring most confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in separation agreements to be unlawful, General Counsel Abruzzo this week declared her intention to seek to invalidate nearly all post-employment non-compete agreements, in a memorandum stating her prosecutorial position that
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UPDATE: NLRB Regional Director Issues Complaint Against USC, Pac-12, and the NCAA
By Adam Lupion, Joshua Fox, Ross Evans & Ryan McGill on
On May 18, 2023, Region 31 of the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) issued an unfair labor-practice complaint against USC, the PAC-12, and the NCAA for allegedly misclassifying college athletes as non-employees and suppressing their Section 7 rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“Act”).
While significant, this development comes…
UPDATE: Fifth Circuit Affirms NLRB Ruling In Tesla Case, Ordering Elon Musk to Delete Union-Related Tweet
By Joshua Fox & David Gobel on
On March 31, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) decision issued in 2021 (previously discussed here), which held that Tesla Inc. violated the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) by (1) prohibiting employees from contacting the media in…
UPDATE: NLRB GC Abruzzo Makes Clear All Non-Disparagement and Confidentiality Clauses Are At Risk After NLRB’s McLaren Decision
Earlier this month, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued its decision in McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023), holding that not only are most non-disparagement and confidentiality clauses signed by employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act (“Act”) void as a matter of policy, but merely…
GC Update: Abruzzo Issues New Memorandum Outlining Her Objectives
By Joshua Fox & David Gobel on
On March 20, 2023, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo released a new Memorandum, updating all Regional Directors, Officers-in-Charge and Resident Officers regarding which issues must be submitted to the NLRB Division of Advice—and which need not, because Advice and/or the NLRB addressed them in the last several years.
Specifically,…
NLRB Announces New Information-Sharing Partnership to Identify Employer Surveillance
By Joshua Fox & David Gobel on
On March 7, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced that the two agencies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) creating a formal partnership that allows the two agencies to share data with each other. The agencies highlighted this new partnership’s potential…
Drafter Beware: NLRB Finds That Employers Who Offer Severance Agreements With Broad Non-Disparagement or Confidentiality Restrictions Violate The NLRA
By Mark Theodore, Joshua Fox & Raymond Arroyo on
The National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) issued a ruling on February 21, 2023, in McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023), which in effect finds broad confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements violate Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (“Act”).
The decision applies to all employers…
Federal Appeals Court Partially Affirms Elimination of NLRB Rule, Hitting Fast-Forward Button on Representation Elections
By Mark Theodore & Dixie Morrison on
A divided three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals partially affirmed a federal district court’s decision to vacate part of a rule issued by the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) in 2019 that eliminated several “quickie” representation election procedures established by a 2014 rule (the “2014 rule”).…