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
NLRB Plans to Push for Protection of Partial Strikes
By Terry Potter on
Posted in GC Memos
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…
Weingarten Confusion
By Terry Potter on
Posted in Board Decisions
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…
Second Circuit Reluctantly Maintains Status Quo on Class Waiver Provisions, But Hints at Future Change in Law
Posted on
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…