The Regional Director for the Chicago office of the NLRB issued a decision this week finding that football players receiving scholarships at Northwestern University constituted an appropriate unit for purposes of collective bargaining under the NLRA. From my perspective, the decision is flawed in many ways, most importantly from a public policy standpoint. But even
What E-Mail Policy?
On March 12, 2014 a three-person panel of the NLRB issued a rather scathing decision with respect to the named employer’s attempted enforcement of their e-mail policy. The employer involved, the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, employed approximately 5000 individuals at the site in question. As a result of new federal regulations, per
NLRB DOUBLE STANDARD FOR UNION FACEBOOK POSTINGS?
This month the NLRB adopted the Administrative Law Judges’ decision in Amalgamated Transit Union, Local Union No. 1433, AFL-CIO in which the Judge found no violations when, on the Union’s Facebook page, a variety of different comments regarding the crossing of a picket line during a labor dispute were posted by union members. In particular,
NLRB Backs Down From Notice Posting Rule
The NLRB officially announced, earlier this month, that it was not going to seek Supreme Court review of two U.S. Court of Appeals’ decisions invalidating the NLRB’s Notice Posting Rule, which would require most private sector employers to post a notice of employee rights in the workplace. The Board’s Office of Public Affairs issued a
D.R. Horton Overruled, But NLRB Presses on With Plan on Modifying Election Rules
While the Fifth Circuit has now overruled the NLRB’s D.R. Horton decision, the Board has not lost its focus in terms of modifying election rules for processing representation petitions. The NLRB issued its semi-annual regular agenda and the sole item on the list was changes to the election rules. The proposed rules had been
Post-Mulhall – Are Old Ways Still Good Ways?
The Supreme Court this week heard oral arguments regarding the Mulhall case which was not your run-of-the-mill issue in the area of labor disputes. In fact, the focus was just the opposite of a dispute: agreements whereby unions and employers agreed to terms under which a union would be able to organize an employer’s employees.
Sixth Circuit Reins in NLRB’s Ability to Sanction Company for Using the Legal Process
Over the years the NLRB has, in essence, put a “choke-hold” on employers’ efforts to bring claims against labor organizations in the courts, especially if the grounds for the litigation are novel in nature. The Supreme Court restricted the NLRB’s efforts in this area in 2002 with its decision of BE&K Construction Company v. NLRB
Procedures Resulting from the Shutdown of the NLRB
Like most other federal agencies, the NLRB has been shut down to the lapse of appropriated funding. This obviously has affected a number of parties who were engaged in proceedings before the NLRB at the time of the shutdown. Given that this is not the first time that this event has occurred, the NLRB has
NLRB Protects Employer’s Financial Information . . . For Now
In Coupled Products, LLC, 359 NLRB No. 152, July 10, 2013, the Board reaffirmed long established case law where an employer need not disclose its financial books and records to a union when negotiating over terms and conditions of employment where the employer simply states it is unwilling to pay the economic demands of
Another Nail in the Coffin for the NLRB’s D.R. Horton Case
The Supreme Court in the American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant decision effectively put another nail in the coffin with respect to the NLRB’s D.R. Horton case. D.R. Horton was on life support in any event, as noted during oral arguments in April of this year before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, when