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09 Jun 2017 Can I Get Your Digits? NLRB Ruling Expands Quickie Election Rules To Cover Supervisors’ Possession Of Employee Phone Numbers

National Labor Relations Board, Unions and Union Membership | David Pryzbylski

  The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) “quickie election” rules that passed a few years ago have been a hot-button topic. One of the significant changes they brought about was the decrease in time employers have to furnish unions with contact information of employees potentially eligible to vote in union elections. The new rules reduce the allotted time from seven calendar days to two business days from the time an election is directed. In addition,…

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08 Jun 2017 Summary of NLRB Decisions for Week of May 22-29

National Labor Relations Board | btlabor

  The summary of NLRB decisions for the week of May 22-26 is now available.   Summarized Board Decisions   Road Sprinkler Fitters Local Union 669 (27-CC-091349; 365 NLRB No. 83)  Denver, CO, May 23, 2017.   The Board adopted the Administrative Law Judge’s conclusion that the Union violated Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(A) by filing a grievance and a lawsuit against several neutral employers with the object of enmeshing them in a labor dispute with one of their…

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07 Jun 2017 Whose Law is it Anyway? NLRB Region’s Complaint Seeking to Have Contractors Converted to Employees Throws Agency into the Misclassification Fray with the IRS and DOL

Department of Labor, National Labor Relations Board | David Pryzbylski

  Misclassification of employees as independent contractors is a huge area of concern for many companies, as a misclassification finding can result in big fines, penalties, and/or back wages and taxes. And those negative outcomes can be imposed by any one of several agencies – from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to the Department of Labor (DOL) to state unemployment agencies. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) may now be jumping into the misclassification fray….

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07 Jun 2017 Congressional Leaders Ask Trump to Fill Long-Standing Vacancies at the NLRB

National Labor Relations Board | David Pryzbylski

  Two vacancies remain on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and many in the business community are anxiously awaiting President Trump’s expected appointment of pro-management members to the agency. On May 30, members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce sent the president a letter asking that he move “expeditiously” to fill the vacancies. In that letter, Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), committee chair, and Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) further noted that the NLRB…

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05 Jun 2017 ‘Smile, You’re On Candid Camera’ – Federal Court Upholds NLRB Ruling That Prohibits Non-Union Employers From Banning Recordings in the Workplace

National Labor Relations Board | David Pryzbylski

  Many employers maintain policies prohibiting surreptitious recordings in the workplace. As noted on the blog last year, however, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) struck down such a policy in Whole Foods Market, Inc., 363 NLRB No. 87 (2015). In that case, the NLRB held that an employer’s prohibition on the use of recording devices in the workplace to record conversations, events, etc., without company authorization was unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act…

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31 May 2017 A Growing Divide: Sixth Circuit Decision To Invalidate Class/Collective Action Waiver Widens Appellate Court Split

National Labor Relations Board | David Pryzbylski

  On May 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit sided with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in finding that an employer unlawfully included a “class action waiver” within a mandatory arbitration program applicable to its employees. In NLRB v. Alternative Entertainment, Inc., the Sixth Circuit specifically found that the company’s arbitration pact barring employees from pursuing class-action litigation or collective arbitration of work-related claims violated Section 7 of the National Labor…

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26 May 2017 Senator Introduces Bill To Amend NLRA And Reverse Micro-Unit Trend

National Labor Relations Board | David Pryzbylski

  It’s been a busy few weeks on the micro-unit front. As just reported on the blog, Chairman Philip Miscimarra recently signaled he would like to overturn the National Labor Relations Board’s decision in Specialty Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 357 NLRB 934 (2011), that gave rise to a wave of micro-units in recent years. Following on the heels is news out of the Senate on May 24 that some members of Congress also…

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25 May 2017 Getting Away With Murder? NLRB Tells Federal Court Union Election Observer’s Use Of Fake Firearm Did NOT Invalidate Union Election Results

Unions and Union Membership | David Pryzbylski

  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) often sets aside union election results where an employer has prevailed when the agency finds “objectionable conduct” occurred. This has been done in cases where, for example, an employer’s handbook contained an overbroad confidentiality policy; supervisors have made “promises” to employees with respect to how they may be treated if they vote to keep a union out; or when a company has given an otherwise lawful “captive audience…

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24 May 2017 It Could Be. It Might Be. IT IS! DOL’s Persuader Rule To Be GONE!

Department of Labor | David Pryzbylski

  Media outlets are reporting that the Department of Labor (DOL) officially is moving to drop its “persuader rule” that would have imposed significant reporting requirements on companies and consultants related to union-avoidance efforts.   On May 22, the DOL formally proposed to revoke the controversial rule. The rule has been tied up in litigation for months, and a challenge currently is pending in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The DOL’s move to rescind the…

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22 May 2017 End In Sight For The Micro-Unit Nightmare Spawned By NLRB’s Specialty Healthcare Decision? Maybe…

National Labor Relations Board | David Pryzbylski

  There appears to be light at the end of the micro-unit tunnel. Anyone following National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) developments knows that few decisions have had as much impact on U.S. labor law as the agency’s decision in Specialty Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 357 NLRB 934 (2011). Now, NLRB Chairman Philip Miscimarra just offered hope, saying that the Specialty Healthcare decision may have been off-base. That decision paved the way for a…

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