With the new make-up of the NLRB resulting in three Republicans sitting on the Board there is no doubt in my mind that the Specialty Healthcare standard in determining appropriate bargaining units will be one of the first of the “new standards” to disappear.
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NLRB
The Fifth Circuit Strengthens Employers’ Right to Use Class Action Waivers
On August 7, 2017, a Fifth Circuit panel ruled, in a divided decision, that a class-action waiver can be enforceable even without an arbitration agreement being involved. In that case, the Convergys Corporation required its applicants to sign a class-action waiver even though it was not contained in an arbitration agreement. The Convergys Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling rejected a NLRB decision holding that the company cannot require its job applicants to sign class action waivers that prevent them from suing the company.
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Finally! NLRB at Full Capacity
For many of us who have been watching the changes made in various administrative agencies the appointments by President Trump to fill the two empty positions on the NLRB is a key start in making changes in a number of over-reaching decisions during the Obama administration. With the changeover to a new General Counsel in…
Dodging the Weingarten Bullet Again
The National Labor Relations Board issued an Order on May 3, 2017 in which it made clear that the Board does not wish to exercise its discretionary authority to expand Weingarten Rights to non-union employees via rule making. The potential for the expansion of the Weingarten Rights to non-union employees has been in place ever…
NLRB ALJ Slams the Brakes on Right-to-Work
Employers subject to a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) must proceed cautiously in determining how to handle dues checkoff and employee communications following implementation of any right-to-work laws. A recent decision by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) declares that contractual dues checkoff provisions are not union security devices and…
NLRB’s OGC Issues D.R. Horton Memo Following Certiorari Grant
Over the last several months, we have covered judicial developments relating to the NLRB’s D.R. Horton doctrine. As a reminder, since its D.R. Horton decision, the Board has taken the position that class-waiver provisions in arbitration agreements infringe on the rights of employees to engage in concerted activities and, therefore, violate the National Labor Relations…
Opening Pandora’s Box – NLRB Finds Student Athletes in Private Colleges and Universities to be Employees
Sometimes common sense is not so common. By a Memorandum dated January 31, 2017, the General Counsel of the NLRB has taken the position that student athletes at private colleges and universities are employees within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, notwithstanding the Board’s issuance of its decision of Northwestern University in 2015…
Mandatory Employee Arbitration Split To Be Heard By Supreme Court
Earlier this month the United States Supreme Court decided to hear three cases which will resolve the split between various Courts of Appeals (discussed in our prior post here) as to whether individual arbitration agreements barring class arbitration actions in employment-related matters are enforceable. While the Court held in 2011 that the Federal Arbitration Act would allow companies to avoid consumer class actions by insisting upon individual arbitrations in their contracts, AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, workers have contended that employment contracts are different. They have successfully argued that the National Labor Relations Act prohibits class waivers since it would impinge upon worker’s rights to engage in “concerted activities”. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals accepted such an argument in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (discussed in our prior post here), and the Ninth Circuit accepted such an argument in Ernst and Young v. Morris. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the same argument in National Labor Relations Board v. Murphy Oil U.S.A.
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The 2016 Election – Right to Work, NLRB Vacancies, and Other Labor Implications
The legal environment for labor unions in Missouri, and across the nation, will change as a result of the 2016 state and national elections. In Missouri, the election of Eric Greitens as Governor and the supermajority of Republicans in the Missouri Senate signal the likely addition of Missouri to the list of states to have…
NLRB Plans to Push for Protection of Partial Strikes
On October 3, the National Labor and Relations Board (NRLB) Office of the General Counsel (OGC) issued a Memorandum from the Division of Operations-Management to all Regional Directors, Officers-In-Charge, and Resident Officers. This Memo (Memorandum OM 17-02) reveals an aggressive new position from the OGC, one which attempts to overturn decades of Board precedent.
For…