Labor Relations Law Blog

Employers that have become exasperated at the regulatory zeal of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the area of workplace policies scored a welcome victory in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.  In T-Mobile USA, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 2017 WL 3138612 (5th Cir. July 25, 2017), the Fifth Circuit refused to enforce an NLRB order that declared that an employee handbook policy requiring ...

On July 24th, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s dismissal of an antitrust claim against a labor union and a multi-employer collective bargaining association. In International Longshore and Warehouse Union et al. v. ICTSI Oregon, Inc. (9th Cir., July 24, 2017), 2017 WL 3122767, the Court of Appeals held that actions taken jointly by the International Longshore and Warehouse ...

On July 3rd, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit decided a case involving the interplay between Sections 7 and 10(c) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). On the one hand, employers may not discharge employees for engaging in activities protected by Section 7 of the NLRA, including employees’ communications to third parties or to the public that seek to improve their lot as employees. On the ...

On June 27th, President Trump announced the selection of William Emanuel, an experienced management-side labor attorney in private practice, for the second of two vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB oversees and adjudicates union elections and disputes between employers, workers, and unions. It also enacts rules and regulations in furtherance of its role to enforce the National ...

On June 19th, President Trump announced his intention to nominate attorney Marvin Kaplan, a Republican, to the National Labor Relations Board. Kaplan currently serves as Chief Counsel of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Previously, Kaplan worked with the U.S. House of Representatives.

The NLRB, which oversees union elections and disputes between employers, workers, and unions ...

On June 7, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) ruled that a company committed an unfair labor practice by unlawfully interrogating and discharging an employee. Specifically, in RHCG Safety Corp. and Construction & General Building Laborers, Local 79, LIUNA, 356 NLRB No. 88, 2017 WL 2497155, the NLRB found National Labor Relations Act (“Act”) violations when a supervisor sent an employee a text message inquiring about the employee’s union activity, and then told him there was no work for him.

The NLRB recently held that temporary employees and regular employees have a right to petition to join a combined bargaining unit, even if the staffing agency and employer object to the formation of the combined unit. In Miller & Anderson, 364 NLRB No. 9 (July 11, 2016), the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) continued its campaign to undermine third-party staffing relationships.  The decision ...

One of the principal criticisms aimed at the National Labor Relations Board in recent years is its penchant for ordering businesses to restore facilities or operations which it has decided to relocate elsewhere.  In the recent case of Gunderson Rail Service, LLC decided June 23, 2016, the NLRB did just that, by ordering a Tucson, Arizona employer to restore its operations there on the grounds that it failed to ...

The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently finalized regulations affecting employers and trade associations across the US.  Those regulations would require reporting of engagement with legal counsel involved in direct or indirect persuasion of employees on matters of union representation.  The stated goal of the regulations was to bring into public view the point that attorneys and consultants are often engaged to help employers in communicating with employees.  With this goal in mind, the regulations sought to force employers and their counsel, effective July 1, 2016, to report engagements, terms of engagement, certain tasks, and expenditures linked to employer communication with employees.  Thus, if an employer hired counsel to draft or review communication plans, to prepare communication pieces, to train supervisors on things they can and cannot say under the law, or in taking action against an employee who engaged in misconduct during the time of a union organizing campaign, such information would be required for disclosure on forms developed by the DOL.  Not only must the attorney/consultant file the report, but the employer must as well, even if the attorney/consultant had no communication directly with employees other than supervisors and management.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) furthered its quest to expand the remedies available under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) with a recent victory in the DC Circuit.  In Camelot Terrace, the DC Circuit held that the NLRB may order an employer to reimburse a union for its bargaining expenses for instances of “flagrant” or “egregious” bad faith bargaining.  Camelot Terrace, et al. v ...