Adam C. Abrahms

Firm/Organization: Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.

Blogs: Health Employment and Labor, Management Memo

Latest Articles

California Puts a Foot On the Scale to Drive Unionization Higher: AB 1291 Mandates State-Sponsored Assistance in Organizing Cannabis Employees

December 30, 2019

As private sector unionization rates have continued to fall over recent decades, organized labor has increasingly turned to the state and local politicians it supports for assistance in the form of state legislation and local ordinances imposing burdens on employers and aid to unions, while depriving employees of the process and balance intended by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). These often come in the form of “Labor Peace” requirements which mandate employers enter into…

Management Memo

NLRB’s General Counsel Signals Major Shift in Neutrality Agreement Between Employers and Unions Seeking to Organize Their Employees

By Adam C. Abrahms, Brock Olson & Steven M. Swirsky

December 10, 2019

The General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (“Board” or “NLRB”) has signaled what may be a major resetting of the law on the Board’s position concerning the legality of so called neutrality agreements, in which employers make concessions and accommodations to labor unions seeking to organize and represent their employees. This occurred with the General Counsel’s consideration of an appeal by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc. (the “Fund”)…

Management Memo

NLRB Solidifies Boeing and Provides Guidance on Employer Workplace Rules

By Brock Olson & Adam C. Abrahms

October 15, 2019

As discussed in previous blog posts and articles, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), in Boeing Co., overruled past precedent that had resulted in the invalidation of “commonsense [workplace] rules and requirements that most people would reasonably expect every employer to maintain.” Boeing sought to return the analysis to a more balanced approach in which workplace rules would no longer be struck down simply because such rules could have been more narrowly tailored…

Management Memo

NLRB Rebalances Employers’ Rights to Prohibit Union Solicitation on Their Property

By Adam C. Abrahms & Brock Olson

June 18, 2019

Last Friday, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) in UPMC overturned 38-year old precedent and held that employers may lawfully prohibit non-employee union solicitation in public spaces on their property absent evidence of discriminatory enforcement. This ruling may seem like common sense to many as employers have long been permitted to control what types of activities occur on their private property in other contexts. However, for the past four decades, the NLRB has compelled employers…

Management Memo

NLRB Proposed Rule Will Redefine Joint-Employer Status –Rule Will Overrule Browning-Ferris and Require “Direct and Immediate Control”

By Steven M. Swirsky & Adam C. Abrahms

September 14, 2018

The National Labor Relations Board has announced publication of a proposed rule that will establish a new and far narrower standard for determining whether an employer can be held to be the joint-employer of another employer’s employees. The rule described in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published in the Federal Register on September 14, 2018, will, once effective essentially discard the Board’s test adopted in Browning-Ferris Industries (“Browning-Ferris”) during the Obama Administration, which substantially reduced…

Management Memo

Supreme Court Holds Requiring Public Sector Employees to Pay Representation Fees Is Unconstitutional – Violates Government Employees’ First Amendment Rights

By Adam C. Abrahms & Steven M. Swirsky

June 28, 2018

In its long awaited decision in Mark Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the United States Supreme Court clearly and unequivocally held that it is a violation of public employees’ First Amendment rights to require that they pay an “agency fee” to the union that is their collective bargaining representative, to cover their “fair share” of their union representative’s bargaining and contract enforcement expenses. The Janus decision overturns the Court’s own…

Management Memo

Supreme Court Gives Employers “Epic” Win: Upholding Class Action Waivers in Arbitration Agreements and Rejecting Obama NLRB

By Adam C. Abrahms & Steven M. Swirsky

May 21, 2018

In Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (a companion case to NLRB v. Murphy Oil USA and Ernst & Young v. Morris), the U.S. Supreme Court finally and decisively put to rest the Obama-era NLRB’s aggressive contention that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) prevented class action waiver in employees arbitration agreements, finding such waivers are both protected by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and not prohibited by the NLRA. In its 5-4 decision, the Court…

Management Memo

NLRB Reinstates Browning-Ferris Joint-Employer Standard . . . For Now

By Adam C. Abrahms, Steven M. Swirsky, Kate B. Rhodes & Judah L. Rosenblatt

February 28, 2018

On February 26, 2018, in a unanimous decision by Chairman Marvin Kaplan and Members Mark Pearce and Lauren McFerren, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) reversed and vacated its December 2017 decision in Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors, Ltd. (“Hy-Brand”), which had overruled the joint-employer standard set forth in the 2015 Browning-Ferris Industries (“Browning-Ferris”) decision. The decision followed the release of a finding that a potential conflict-of-interest had tainted the Board’s 3-2 vote. What this…

Management Memo

TRUMP NLRB STRIKES BACK: NLRB Restores Balance to Labor Relations – Overturning Divisive Obama Board Micro-Unit and Unilateral Change Decisions

By Adam C. Abrahms, Steven M. Swirsky & Christina C. Rentz

December 18, 2017

Last Friday – the day the Star Wars movie Episode VIII hit theaters and the last working day of National Labor Relations Board Chairman Philip A. Miscimarra’s term – the Board continued its efforts to undo some of the most controversial and problematic decisions rendered by the Obama Board before the Republicans temporarily lose their majority. As we previously reported, recent days have seen a stream of significant decisions and other actions from the …

Management Memo

9th Circuit Grants a Temporary Reprieve from Seattle’s Ridesharing Union Ordinance

By Adam C. Abrahms & Christina C. Rentz

September 18, 2017

As we have previously reported, Unions currently face a serious existential threat as the unionized workforce in America continuously declines and the looming threat of a National Right to Work law steadily grows. Recognizing that when employees have a choice, they are losing the battle for the hearts and minds, Unions have not taken these deleterious developments lying down and have deployed numerous countermeasures designed to increase their dues paying membership, including unprecedented forays into…

Adam C. Abrahms

California Puts a Foot On the Scale to Drive Unionization Higher: AB 1291 Mandates State-Sponsored Assistance in Organizing Cannabis Employees

NLRB’s General Counsel Signals Major Shift in Neutrality Agreement Between Employers and Unions Seeking to Organize Their Employees

NLRB Solidifies Boeing and Provides Guidance on Employer Workplace Rules

NLRB Rebalances Employers’ Rights to Prohibit Union Solicitation on Their Property

NLRB Proposed Rule Will Redefine Joint-Employer Status –Rule Will Overrule Browning-Ferris and Require “Direct and Immediate Control”

Supreme Court Holds Requiring Public Sector Employees to Pay Representation Fees Is Unconstitutional – Violates Government Employees’ First Amendment Rights

Supreme Court Gives Employers “Epic” Win: Upholding Class Action Waivers in Arbitration Agreements and Rejecting Obama NLRB

NLRB Reinstates Browning-Ferris Joint-Employer Standard . . . For Now

TRUMP NLRB STRIKES BACK: NLRB Restores Balance to Labor Relations – Overturning Divisive Obama Board Micro-Unit and Unilateral Change Decisions

9th Circuit Grants a Temporary Reprieve from Seattle’s Ridesharing Union Ordinance

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