General Workplace

Tunnel to a baseball stadium

The executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) recently resigned in the wake of two ongoing investigations involving an inappropriate relationship with a union employee and alleged improprieties related to union finances. Tony Clark, the now former MLBPA Chief, stepped down after serving more than twelve years as the union’s leader. Clark’s resignation comes on the eve of what is widely expected to be the most contentious and impactful collective bargaining negotiation between the league (the owners) and players’ union in more than a generation.

United States National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

Settling cases before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) became an increasingly difficult task under the prior administration, where the terms of agreements were often dictated by General Counsel directives insisting on specific remedies, types of remedies, or specific terms in agreements. For employers and labor attorneys seeking to resolve cases, pursuing a settlement was often a frustrating process, with too much time spent trying to work around these directives to facilitate an equitable settlement. Frequently, the directives meant cases did not settle until administrative law judges were assigned and hearings scheduled. These delays increased costs, heightened conflict, and did little to encourage labor peace. A new GC memo issued on Friday, May 16, 2025, will help change that.

Given the variety and complexity of tasks associated with operations management, automated systems, including those utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), are increasingly deployed by businesses to improve overall efficiencies. As part of this effort, the use of AI or related automated systems to track and monitor production, including employee activities, is becoming widespread. A 2022 New York Times survey revealed that eight out of the 10 largest private U.S. employers track individual workers, many in real time, to assess their productivity. Any process that utilizes electronic devices capable of being connected via network technology suddenly becomes a trove of data points that can be used to monitor or improve the process—or the employees engaged in the process.

United States National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

On June 11, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) affirmed that a union violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by refusing to honor employees’ dues revocation requests following a successful deauthorization election. This rare but significant case, Governed United Security Professionals (Golden SVCS, LLC) and Sheldon N. Fraser, sheds light on the…

High Temperature

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration plans to propose a new rule requiring employers to protect employees exposed to high temperatures at work. This federal government regulation is the first of its kind to provide protection from heat on the job. As the summer months arrive and heat records rise, employers would do well to examine OSHA’s proposal, and to understand the legal pitfalls facing employers under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA), should employees complain about or walk off the job due to excessive heat in the workplace.

United States National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

Employers in the United States received a significant win on March 8, 2024, when a federal court in Texas struck down the National Labor Relations Board’s (“Board”) expansive new “joint employer” rule, and upheld the existing (and more employer-friendly) 2020 rule. This rule would have expanded the circumstances under which two businesses could be designated as “joint employers,” and that could have significantly altered the legal landscape attendant to various workplace relationships.

Historically, the banking and finance industry has operated without much union interference. However, under the current guidance of Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”), the tides are turning toward unionization in sectors previously not considered ripe for union organizing, including banking and finance.

On May 1, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued its decision in Lion Elastomers and United Steelworkers, making it more difficult for employers to discipline employees for outbursts and similar misconduct while employees are engaged in protected concerted activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”).

It is not often that the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) gives employers a heads-up before it makes broad, and often burdensome, changes, but a recently issued ALJ decision might be the exception to the rule. Earlier this year, an Administrative Law Judge issued a decision in Saint Leo University, Inc., 12-CA-275612 (2023) reinforcing how the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) is applied to religious educational institutions, however, the briefing in the case indicated how that application might change in the near future.