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26 Jun 2014 NLRB CHAIR RESPONDS TO NOEL CANNING DECISION

National Labor Relations Board | Scott Witlin

  In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Noel Canning earlier today, NLRB Chair Mark Gaston Pearce issued the following statement:   “The Supreme Court has today decided the Noel Canning case. We are analyzing the impact that the Court’s decision has on Board cases in which the January 2012 recess appointees participated. Today, the National Labor Relations Board has a full contingent of five Senate-confirmed members who are prepared to fulfill our…

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26 Jun 2014 Noel Canning Affirmed; Unanimous Supreme Court Invalidates President Obama’s NLRB Recess Appointments

National Labor Relations Board | Scott Witlin

  A unanimous Supreme Court today struck down President Obama’s 2013 recess appointments that gave rise to a dispute of Constitutional proportions.  The unanimous Court ruled that the President does not have the authority to make appointments when the Senate is in a brief recess of a few days or even as many as 10 days such as the pro forma sessions the Senate has taken to holding in order to thwart Presidential recess appointments….

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26 Jun 2014 Breaking News: Noel Canning decision released by Supreme Court. D.C. Circuit Affirmed; President Obama Recess Appointments Invalidated! Our analysis coming shortly.

National Labor Relations Board | Scott Witlin

  The case considers the scope of the President’s recess appointment power. The questions presented to the Court are whether the President can use the recess appointment power during a recess that occurs during a session of Congress rather than between sessions to fill vacancies that arose prior to the recess as well as those that arise during one. The Court was also deciding if the Senate’s use of so-called pro forma sessions during a…

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25 Jun 2014 NLRB WEEKLY SUMMARY OF DECISIONS, JUNE 16-20, 2014

National Labor Relations Board | Keith Brodie

  The Summary of NLRB decisions for the week of June 16-20, 2014, is now available on the NLRB’s website.     Keith BrodieKeith J. Brodie is a partner in Barnes & Thornburg LLP’s Grand Rapids, Michigan office. He devotes his practice exclusively to labor and employment law. He is a practitioner and counselor to his clients on labor matters including collective bargaining, union organizing, NLRB unfair labor practice charge defense, and labor strategies for mergers,…

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23 Jun 2014 Labor Lawyers, Constitutional Scholars Await Noel Canning

National Labor Relations Board | Scott Witlin

  As the current Supreme Court sessions winds down, labor lawyers and Constitutional scholars alike await the Court’s decision in NLRB v. Noel Canning. The decision reviewing the D.C. Circuit’s far reaching opinion of January, 2013 striking down Presidential recess appointments is expected be handed down by the end of the term. Our Alert reviewing the decision can be found here.  The Supreme Court’s session could extend until Monday, June 30.  The next day decisions…

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18 Jun 2014 NLRB General Counsel Pushes for Broader Access to Employer E-Mail Systems

National Labor Relations Board | Gerald Lutkus

  NLRB General Counsel Richard Griffin pushed onward this week with his stated agenda of overturning prior NLRB precedent to legitimize employee use of company email systems for union organizing activity as well as other protected concerted activities.   On Monday of this week, the General Counsel filed his brief in the Purple Communications case now pending before the Board. In that brief, Griffin called for the Board to overturn its previous decision in Register-Guard…

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18 Jun 2014 NLRB Again Overturns Discharge Of Employee Who Engaged In A Profanity-Laced Argument With A Manager In Front Of Customers

National Labor Relations Board | David Pryzbylski

  This week the NLRB again overturned the discharge of an employee who engaged in a profanity-laced argument with a manager in the presence of customers. At issue in the case was an employee of Starbucks who was a known union supporter during a union campaign. The employee engaged in several acts of egregious misconduct in the span of just several months. The first incident occurred when the employee asked a manager for assistance during…

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17 Jun 2014 NLRB WEEKLY SUMMARY OF DECISIONS, June 9-13, 2014

National Labor Relations Board | Keith Brodie

    The Summary of NLRB decisions for the week of June 9-13, 2014, is now available on the NLRB’s website.     Keith BrodieKeith J. Brodie is a partner in Barnes & Thornburg LLP’s Grand Rapids, Michigan office. He devotes his practice exclusively to labor and employment law. He is a practitioner and counselor to his clients on labor matters including collective bargaining, union organizing, NLRB unfair labor practice charge defense, and labor strategies for…

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13 Jun 2014 Some Hope for Employers? Limits on Alan Ritchey Discretionary Discipline Bargaining Obligation Applied by NLRB

National Labor Relations Board | btlabor

  In Alan Ritchey, 359 NLRB No. 40, decided in December 2012, the Board held that an employer has an obligation to bargain with a newly certified union over certain discretionary discipline of unit employees when there is no contract or interim grievance procedure in place, before it can issue any such discipline. This decision was novel and highly controversial. The Board did provide some caveats where the pre-imposition bargaining obligation would not apply —…

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11 Jun 2014 Reality vs. “Objectivity” – The NLRB’s Use of Atlantic Steel to Sanction a Coarsening of the Workplace

National Labor Relations Board | Keith Brodie

  During the last decade employers have been made acutely (and often times painfully) aware of the workplace evils of harassment, bullying, workplace violence and other coarse workplace conduct. Efforts to curb such conduct by both federal and state enactments and enforcement have been ramped up. And as such, most employees of today have (rightly) come to expect that such behaviors are not to be tolerated in the workplace. The NLRB, however, seems rather oblivious…

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