NLRB Poised to Exterminate the Cat and Rat, According to NLRB Advice Memo
Latest from Labor Relations Law Insider
NLRB Authorizes Reduction in Use of Investigative Subpoenas to Expedite Investigations
Memorandum 19-05, issued by the NLRB Division of Operations Management of the Office of the General Counsel in March 2019, gives Regional Directors a new tool to expedite cases when a charged party fails to cooperate with an unfair labor practice (ULP) investigation. Instead of relying on investigative subpoenas to acquire additional information, Regional Directors may issue complaints based on “evidence available.” The new authorization is designed to reduce case processing time consistent with…
NLRB Overrules Precedent and Limits Use of Perfectly Clear Exception in Successorship Law
On April 2, 2019, in a 3-1 decision split along party lines, the Trump administration’s National Labor Relations Board (Board) appointees significantly narrowed the circumstances under which a successor employer will be construed as a perfectly clear successor and forced to forfeit its right to set initial employment terms. The decision, Ridgewood Health Care Center Inc., and Ridgewood Health Services, Inc., overrules precedent which had established that a successor employer which uses discriminatory hiring…
A Mixed Bag: The NLRB Simultaneously Increases and Limits Employee Rights in Investigatory Meetings
The NLRB Pumps the Brakes on Union’s Accretion Efforts
Unions commonly utilize clarification petitions to invoke accretion principles and try to bypass election procedures. However, the National Labor Relations Board’s recent decision in Recology Hay Road and Teamsters Local 315 illustrates how employers can avoid employee accretion into existing bargaining units by emphasizing the lack of interchange between bargaining unit employees and the non-bargaining unit employees at issue. Interchange occurs when employees alternate or transfer between positions.…
Good News for Employers – Resetting the Standard for Protected Concerted Activity Under the National Labor Relations Act
Although the National Labor Relations Act was initially established to assist unions in organizing employees, its scope is much broader as it also protects employees’ rights to engage in “protected concerted activity.” The NLRB’s interpretation of what constitutes protected concerted activity has fluctuated over the years and, in particular, under the Obama administration it expanded significantly beyond its original scope. In the Board’s recent decision of Alstate Maintenance, LLC the Board acknowledged a need to…
The Perfect Storm – The NLRB, Healthcare Staffing Issues, and a Letter to the Editor
Those involved in the world of healthcare cannot escape the ongoing debate regarding staffing levels at healthcare facilities. Main Coast Memorial Hospital recently became an unwitting focal point for this discussion. A number of internal communications between the nurses’ union and the Hospital over staffing resulted in a series of editorials in the local newspaper. This in turn motivated a non-union employee to write a letter to the editor supporting the position of the union…
STEALING IS NOT PROTECTED ACTIVITY
After years of stringent oversight, the National labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) is now loosening the reigns over workplace rules.
The Office of the General Counsel of the NLRB recently issued an advice memo analyzing the social media policy of Kumho Tires, a Georgia-based tire manufacturer. The General Counsel found the employer’s policy was facially lawful under the NLRB’s decision in The Boeing Company, 365 NLRB No. 154, and therefore the employer did not violate Section…
How to Analyze Employer Handbook Rules in Light of Boeing
An analysis of the NLRB General Counsel’s Memorandum
Introduction
On June 6, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) General Counsel (“GC”) released a memorandum providing guidance on the NLRB’s recent decision in The Boeing Company, 365 NLRB No. 154. When responding to unfair practice charges involving employer handbook rules, the memo provides employers with an easy to follow roadmap to evaluate the legality of employer handbook language and rules.…
New Guidelines for Public Bargaining in Missouri
For a number of years now, since the Missouri’s Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Independence NEA v. Independence School District, there has been a great deal of confusion regarding the collective bargaining process in the State of Missouri for public employees. All processes for those employees that were specifically excluded from the statutory procedures of the State Board of Mediation were subject to what various circuit courts believed to be the appropriate procedure in…