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By: Husch Blackwell LLP

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Latest from Labor Relations Law Insider

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…
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Husch Blackwell recently issued a legal alert regarding the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down federal gambling prohibition. The decision was handed down in a 6-3 opinion on May 14, 2018. A little over a week later, our Rudy Telscher talks with Katie Strang of The Athletic to discuss the impact the decision by SCOTUS will have on the MLB, the players’ union and labor relations as a whole. Rudy is a Partner…
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Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed and remanded a pro-employee Board decision concerning an employee who had been discharged based on the “disparaging content” of the testimony he made before state legislators. Back in October 2012, a bargaining unit employee of Oncor Electric Delivery Company (Bobby Reed) testified before a Texas senate committee that had been tasked with studying the impact of utilizing digital metering devices installed in customer…
  From Justice Kagan’s observation that a decision in favor of the plaintiff could affect millions of public sector workers to Justice Alito’s surprise at seeing a union brief include an argument that the Constitution originally did not grant public employees free speech rights, the U.S. Supreme Court was full of impassioned discourse during Monday’s oral arguments in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, et al. Despite the…
The National Labor Relations Board found that a union committed an unfair labor practice by repeatedly blocking ingress and egress to a hotel for periods of one to four minutes. The opinion provides details about the union’s picketing efforts as a part of an organizing campaign. The blockage occurred during at least ten separate occasions over the course of more than a month. The Board adopted the ALJ’s decision holding that the picketers’ actions of…