Labor & Employment Law Blog

A recent NLRB decision in Lion Elastomers LLC, 372 NLRB 83 (May 1, 2023) restored prior Board law, which had used context-specific approaches to assess whether am employee’s outburst stripped him of protection under the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”).  The decision by the current, three-member Democratic majority Board, makes it more difficult for employers to discipline or discharge employees who engage in profane, abusive or otherwise inappropriate conduct when done in connection with protected activity under the Act.  The restored law assesses employee conduct by applying highly amorphous setting-specific tests for the following various contexts: 

Strike and picketing activity have historically enjoyed broad protection under labor law.  This has often left employers suffering property or other damage as a result of strikes or picketing without a meaningful remedy.  A new U.S. Supreme Court ruling stands to change that.  

Employers may sue unions when members fail to take “reasonable precautions” to protect their employer’s property, even when the union members are engaged in a strike. On June 1, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174 (No. 21–1449), that an employer can bring state law claims for damages if union members engage in actions that expose their employer’s property to “foreseeable, aggravated, and imminent danger due to the sudden cessation of work.”