By Ashley K. Laken and Kyllan B. Kershaw Seyfarth Synopsis: As the future of work continues to take shape, labor unions are taking notice and adjusting their strategies and their focus in response.  To the extent they haven’t already, companies both large and small should take heed and consider adjusting their employee and labor relations approaches accordingly.    Just over two years ago, the AFL-CIO formed its own Commission on the Future of Work and…

Seyfarth Synopsis: A new decision reinforces that the National Labor Relations Board will invalidate arbitration agreements that explicitly, or when reasonably interpreted, prohibit filing administrative charges. By Samuel Rubinstein[1] and Howard M. Wexler In June 2018, the Supreme Court held in Epic Systems that employers may require employees, as a condition of employment, to enter into arbitration agreements that contain waivers of the ability to participate in a class or collective action under various…

By: Molly Clayton Mooney, Esq. Seyfarth Synopsis: On September 10, in a 3-1 decision, the NLRB in MV Transportation, Inc., 368 NLRB No. 66 (Sept. 10, 2019), adopted the “contract coverage” standard in replacement for its previous “clear and unmistakable waiver” standard for determining when a collective bargaining agreement allows an employer to take unilateral action. This decision makes it easier for employers to show that their collective bargaining agreements allows them to make unilateral…

Authors: Howard M. Wexler and Samuel Sverdlov Seyfarth Synopsis: The NLRB recently published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making regarding three proposed amendments to its current rules and regulations for union elections.  These amendments consist of: (1) a change from the current election blocking charge policy to a vote-and-impound procedure; (2) a reversion to the rule of Dana Corp. with respect to voluntary recognition agreements; and (3) a modification of the evidentiary requirements for §…

By Jason Silver and Glenn Smith Seyfarth Synopsis: In a 3-1 decision, the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) in Johnson Controls, Inc., 368 NLRB No. 20 (July 3, 2019), established a new standard for determining whether a union has reacquired majority status after an employer announces its anticipatory withdrawal of recognition based on evidence indicating that the union has lost majority support. The Board’s new framework requires a secret ballot election be conducted when both…

By Ashley K. Laken and Howard Wexler Seyfarth Synopsis: Just before the end of the legislative session, lawmakers in New York introduced the “Dependent Worker Act,” which proposes to provide workers in the gig economy with certain rights, including the right to unionize. On June 14 and 15, lawmakers in the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate introduced the “Dependent Worker Act,” which would classify workers in the gig economy as…

 By: Ashley Laken Seyfarth Synopsis: The NLRB’s Division of Advice recently released an Advice Memorandum finding that a security company’s work rules were unlawfully overbroad, but that the company did not violate the National Labor Relations Act by discharging one of its employees for posting an insidious Facebook video or by filing a defamation lawsuit against two former employees. Earlier this month, the NLRB’s Division of Advice publicly released an Advice Memorandum that it had…