For a second time in recent weeks, the National Labor Relations Board has chosen to bolster unions’ rights at employers’ expense. On September 30, 2022, in Valley Hospital Medical Center, Inc., 371 NLRB No. 160 (2022), a divided Board ruled
Management & Labor Report
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Are Employer Uniform and Dress Code Policies Dead?
The National Labor Relations Board ruled on August 29, 2022 that workplace policies restricting or limiting employees’ wearing of union apparel are unlawful unless the employer can demonstrate the existence of “special circumstances” justifying the restrictions. The Board’s decision throws…
NLRB Administrative Law Judge Rules NLRA Does Not Protect BLM Messaging at Workplace
A National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) recently dismissed a complaint against Home Depot USA, Inc., in which the NLRB General Counsel (GC) alleged the company violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by prohibiting an employee from…
NLRB GC Seeks to Curtail Employers’ Defenses to Union Organizing Amidst Huge Increase in Union Election Petitions
On April 6, the National Labor Relations Board announced that union representation petitions filed with the agency during the first six months of the fiscal year had increased 57% from the previous year.[1] The very next day, NLRB General…
Union without an election? – NLRB’s possible return to Joy Silk Mills
NLRB GC’s Extreme Agenda on Display at ABA Mid-Winter Meeting
Last week, the American Bar Association’s Section on Labor and Employment Law, Committee on the Developing Labor Law, gathered in Kauai for its annual mid-winter meeting, featuring presentations from top labor law attorneys and NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo and…
More Sound and Fury from the NLRB GC – Signifying What, Exactly?
NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo announced, in a February 1 memorandum, that the Board will consider seeking interim injunctive relief – heretofore an extraordinary remedy reserved for particularly serious unfair labor practices – in virtually all cases in which…
NLRB Complaint Suggests Employers Cannot Prohibit BLM Messaging in the Workplace

On December 3, Region 20 of the National Labor Relations Board issued a sweeping, consolidated complaint alleging that Whole Foods Market, Inc. violated federal labor law by maintaining and enforcing rules regarding workplace attire that prohibited employees from wearing Black…
Lessons for Management from the John Deere Strike
The John Deere Co. Strike – Sign of the Times?
In case you missed it, a major battle between labor and management is playing out in the heartland. On October 14, over 10,000 UAW-represented workers at John Deere Co. plants…
Civil Penalties May Be Coming To The National Labor Relations Act
If enacted into law, the so-called Build Back Better reconciliation package (“BBB”) will drastically expand the remedial power of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) effective January 1, 2022. The BBB incorporates the penalty provisions the PRO Act, which…