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By: Husch Blackwell LLP

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Ben McMillen
Ben McMillen
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Husch Blackwell
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Stephen Cockerham
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Latest from Labor Relations Law Insider

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…
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…
Mock up Cotton Tote Bag on Brick wall Background
The National Labor Relations Board has long recognized Weingarten rights—the rights to request assistance from union representatives during investigatory interviews by employers. Historically, the Board has limited the types of individuals that can serve in this union representative’s role to union officers that are not legal professionals. However, in the Board’s recent decision in Pacific Architects and Engineers Incorporated (“PAE”), the Board loosened this restriction and, for the first time, allowed “a union attorney” to…
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.…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
  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…
The United States Supreme Court settled a controversy that had been brewing for half a decade as to whether the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) made enforceable individual agreements to arbitrate employment-related claims in the face of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) which is seen to protect individuals’ rights to join together and participate in protected “concerted activity” under Section 7 of the NLRA. In a 5-4 decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the Court…