In most situations the NLRB’s long established Weingarten doctrine can be applied in a fairly straight-forward fashion. But I still get questions regarding the interplay of drug and alcohol testing when it comes to Weingarten. This is probably due to the fact that the Ralphs Grocery Company decision, which issued in 2014, is a
NLRB
Second Circuit Reluctantly Maintains Status Quo on Class Waiver Provisions, But Hints at Future Change in Law
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On September 2, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Patterson v. Raymour’s Furniture Co., the most recent case in what has become an all-out war between employers and the NLRB over the use of class-waiver provisions in arbitration agreements. The decision, consistent with prior Second Circuit precedent enforcing such waivers,…
Nerds Win, Jocks Lose
By Terry Potter on
Posted in NLRB
Once again I shake my head at the NLRB’s analysis in their application of the National Labor Relations Act. In the high profile Northwestern University case which issued in August of last year, the Board found that it would not assert jurisdiction over the grant-in-aid scholarship football players of Northwestern University, citing in particular the…
Seventh Circuit Creates D.R. Horton Split, While Eighth Circuit Maintains Prior Position
By Terry Potter on
Posted in Court Cases & Legislation, NLRB
On May 26, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Lewis v. Epic Systems Corporation, another case evaluating the NLRB’s position that class-waiver provisions in arbitration agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act. However, unlike any other Circuit Court that has addressed this issue thus far, the Seventh Circuit agreed with…
NLRB General Counsel Blocks Longstanding Process to Facilitate Settlement in NLRB Proceedings
By Terry Potter on
Posted in NLRB
An order, dated February 19, 2016, by the Board granted special permission to appeal and invited briefs over the issue of whether or not they will continue to permit Administrative Law Judges to issue orders granting settlement terms proposed by a respondent, to which no other party has agreed to, over the objections of…
Eighth Circuit Supports the NLRB’s Specialty Healthcare Decision
By Terry Potter on
Posted in NLRB
The Eighth Circuit became another notch in the belt of the NLRB in support of its position as set forth in Specialty Healthcare with the issuance of FedEx Freight, Inc. v. NLRB. The facts are fairly straightforward and are typical for a representation proceeding in that the employer wanted to expand the bargaining unit…
NLRB Successful in Obtaining Subpoena Enforcement as to Joint Employer Issue in McDonalds Franchise Dispute
By Terry Potter on
Posted in NLRB
Many of us have been watching the ongoing battle taking place in Region 2 of the NLRB as to the consolidated unfair labor practice proceedings that are taking place with respect to McDonalds and various McDonalds’ franchisees. The hearing that was originally scheduled to begin on March 30th of this year has been postponed…
And Around And Around We Go
By Terry Potter on
Posted in NLRB
In the NLRB’s never ending expansion of its jurisdiction, it has agreed to reconsider whether graduate teaching assistants at private non-profit universities are entitled to collective bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act. As anyone who has been involved in education labor law for any period of time knows, the Board has gone back and…
Joint Employer Relationship . . . Not This Time
By Terry Potter on
Posted in NLRB
In the first reported decision since the Board’s holding in Browning-Ferris, the Regional Director for Region 5 of the NLRB found that, with respect to the particular facts in a case before that Region, the union failed to establish a joint employer relationship. The case arose in the context of a staffing agency, GJW…
D.R. Horton Decision Controls Once Again in the Fifth Circuit
By Terry Potter on
Posted in NLRB
In the case of Murphy Oil USA, Inc. v NLRB, the Fifth Circuit recently reaffirmed its position allowing class waivers in arbitration agreements, contrary to the NLRB’s position in D.R. Horton. Obviously, given the fact that this same Court of Appeals recently denied enforcement of the Board’s Order in D.R. Horton on this…