By: Robert Fisher, Jeffrey Berman, Skelly Harper and John Ayers-Mann  Seyfarth Synopsis: An important issue for colleges and universities is whether faculty are “managerial” employees under the National Labor Relations Act, and thus precluded from union organizing.  Almost 40 years ago, the Supreme Court held in NLRB v. Yeshiva University that faculty are managerial if they exercise “collegial” authority collectively in academic matters.  Five years ago, the Obama Board in Pacific Lutheran University…

By Tiffany Tran Seyfarth Synopsis: In another employer friendly decision, the NLRB explicitly overruled an Obama administration precedent in emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurial activity and returned to the traditional common law test to evaluate independent contractors under the NLRA. On January 25, 2019, the NLRB returned to its pre-2014, “traditional” common law test for determining the employment relationship issued in SuperShuttle DFW, Inc., 367 NLRB No. 75 (2019). SuperShuttle DFW franchisee drivers in the…

By John Ayers-Mann Seyfarth Synopsis: The NLRB has overturned a previous decision defining any employee’s protest in a group setting as protected concerted activity. In Alstate Maintenance, the Board has sought to adhere to the principles defining protected concerted activity set forth in the Meyers decisions. The Board majority has shown no signs of slowing in 2019 as it continues to drive national labor policy.  The Board’s recent decision in Alstate Maintenance and Trevor Greenidge,…

By:  Paul Galligan and Samuel Sverdlov Seyfarth Synopsis: The NLRB’s Office of General Counsel has issued an Advice Memorandum stating that an employer lawfully refused a union’s information request regarding its tax cut savings during bargaining. During collective bargaining, employers often deal with an uncomfortable dilemma — comply with invasive and overbroad information requests from unions or withhold information, and risk Board litigation.  However, in a recent Advice Memorandum, the NLRB’s Office of the…

On December 28, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit), in a 2-1 decision (Browning-Ferris Indus. of Cal. v. NLRB, No. 16-1028), invalidated the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB or Board) controversial joint employer test adopted in Browning-Ferris, 362 NLRB No. 186 (2015) (Browning-Ferris). The Court remanded the case back to the Board for further proceedings consistent with its opinion. Joint employer status potentially can…

By: Monica Rodriguez, Esq. Seyfarth Synopsis: In September 2018, the NLRB released its new proposed rule regarding the joint employer standard. The NLRB extended the comment period twice since the release of the new proposed rule. Comments are now due on or before January 14, 2019. Individuals waiting on pins and needles in anticipation of the outcome of the new proposed joint employer rule will have to wait a bit longer. On September 14, 2018,…

 By: Monica Rodriguez, Esq. Seyfarth Synopsis: The NLRB suspends its request for briefing regarding potential changes to the construction industry bargaining relationship in light of Charging Party Union’s withdrawal of the underlying charge. The review of whether to make changes to construction industry bargaining relationship has been put on hold. As Seyfarth reported, the NLRB had issued a request for amicus briefs on what the standard should be to determine the majority status of…