Articles and Blogs

Talk of Job Security Is “Inherently” Concerted and Protected We all know by now that private employees are protected if they engage in concerted activity for their mutual aid or protection.  We also know that the protections afforded employees under the NLRA can be interpreted quite broadly.  The current NLRB has done just that... READ MORE

NLRB to Petition for Supreme Court Review of Recess Appointments The National Labor Relations Board today announced that it has determined not to seek en banc rehearing in Noel Canning v. NLRB, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that the January 4, 2012 recess appointments of three members... READ MORE

Confidentiality, Public Relations and Blogging Policies Held to Be Unlawful As we reported in our Employment Law News article in January, the NLRB has been very active in challenging any employer policy that could reasonably be understood by an employee to interfere with rights protected under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).  The NLRA... READ MORE

Three NLRB Members Not Valid Recess Appointments As we predicted last year, President Obama’s three recess appointments to the NLRB faced a significant constitutional legal challenge.  On January 25, 2012, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in a unanimous opinion ruled that the president’s recess appointments to the NLRB in... READ MORE

The NLRB Overrules 50 Years of Precedent Last month, the current NLRB once again left the labor relations world with its mouth agape when it decided that Dues Checkoff provisions will now survive the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”).  Nearly all CBAs have a provision that requires management to withhold from employee... READ MORE

NLRB Judge Rules That Clauses That Are Too Broad Are Illegal As we have seen in the recent months, the NLRB has been very focused on the rights of employees – union and non-union – to talk about their wages, hours and working conditions whether face-to-face or on Facebook.  A decision by an NLRB administrative law... READ MORE

Michigan Joins Indiana in “Right-to-Work” In less than twelve months, two Midwestern states long known for their unionized workforces have passed legislation that prevents agreements requiring union membership and the payment of union dues as a condition of employment.  First, on February 1, 2012, Governor Mitch Daniels signed Indiana’s “Right-to-Work” bill into law to... READ MORE

Employer’s Social Media Policy and Savings Clause Are Okay For the past two years, private employers have been struggling to understand just what the NLRB expects of them when it comes to Social Media Policies (among other things – confidential investigations; employment-at-will; off-duty access).  The NLRB General Counsel has even issued three separate Memos... READ MORE

The NLRB Offers Some Advice The NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon today (October 31, 2012) released an analysis of at-will employment clauses in two employee handbooks, finding that both are lawful under the National Labor Relations Act.  This analysis, contained in two separate Advice Memoranda, will help guide employers in determining whether their... READ MORE

NLRB Adopts ALJ Decision Finding Employer “Courtesy” Policy to Be Unlawful Last Fall, an Administrative Law Judge for the NLRB issued one of the first opinions addressing social media in the workplace.  The ALJ’s decision addressed two separate social media issues in what you may recall as the “hot dog cart” case or the... READ MORE