On February 3, 2016, Husch Blackwell Labor and Employment attorneys Terry Potter and Robert Rojas presented a webinar on Workplace Safety vs. Workplace Gun Rights. The webinar focused on the legal landscape of current gun legislation, how certain legislation affects employers and the workplace, and how to minimize any risks associated with that legislation. Specifically,
California Legislation Places Additional Burdens on Contractors
By Emma Savory & Terry Potter on
Posted in Court Cases & Legislation
In January 2016, two new laws will go into effect in California that increase the obligations on contractors in California. The first imposes obligations typically enforced on public works projects on private construction of hospitals, and the second, strictly regulates the workforce employed by contractors on school facility design-build projects.
Assembly Bill 852
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…
En Banc Eighth Circuit Refuses to Give Deference to Secretary’s Expansive Interpretation of OSHA Regulation
By Terry Potter on
Posted in Court Cases & Legislation, OSHA
On October 13, an en banc Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Perez v. Loren Cook Company, denied the Secretary of Labor’s petition for review of an order handed down by the Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission (OSHRC). In doing so, the court provided an in-depth discussion of circumstances where the Secretary (and…
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…
No Purple Communications Exception Applied to Healthcare Providers
By Terry Potter on
Posted in Board Decisions, NLRB
In an August 27, 2015 decision, a majority of the Board found that the Purple Communications standard, with respect to an employer’s email system, would apply without exception to healthcare providers and, in particular, for acute care hospitals. Contrary to the cogent arguments put forth by member Johnson in his dissent, the majority found…
More Changes by the NLRB . . . Joint Employer and Dues Check-Off Doctrines . . . Why?
By Terry Potter on
Posted in Board Decisions, NLRB
The NLRB continues to overrule long-standing case law in key areas. Last week, in particular, two major determinations of the NLRB issued which will no doubt be tested before the courts of appeal. One, involving the Joint Employer Doctrine for which this Firm issued a client alert, can be reviewed here; the second…
D.C. District Court Supports the NLRB’s New R Case Processing Rules
By Terry Potter on
Posted in NLRB
The D.C. District Court issued an opinion on the 29th in which it upheld the NLRB’s massive changes to its R Case procedures. Overall, the Court found that the objections and challenges put forth by the Chamber of Commerce were “simply matters of disagreement with the choices made by the Agency entrusted by Congress…