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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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19 May 2017 First-Year Report Card on Graduate Student Assistants Unionization

National Labor Relations Board, Unions and Union Membership | John Koenig

  Last fall, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) re-opened the door to unionization by graduate student assistants. The NLRB overturned 12 years of precedent and ruled that graduate assistants at Columbia were employees eligible to unionize under the NLRA. An entire school year has passed since that ruling in August 2016, so we wanted to provide a progress report on graduate student unionization.   At Columbia, the university at issue in the August NLRB case,…

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18 May 2017 Another Overreach? NLRB Finds Company Violated the NLRA by Retaliating Against Former Employee for Filing FLSA (Not NLRA) Class Action

National Labor Relations Board | David Pryzbylski

  From scrutiny of class action waivers to invalidating non-union employer handbooks, we’ve seen the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over the past eight years incrementally expand and encroach into areas companies never expected. This means companies have had to deal in totally different ways with the agency traditionally known for governing management-union relations.   On May 16, the NLRB broke new ground yet again in its decision in MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC, 365 NLRB No….

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17 May 2017 Summary of NLRB Decisions for Week of May 1-5

National Labor Relations Board | btlabor

  The summary of NLRB decisions for the week of May 1-5 is now available.   Summarized Board Decisions     Voices for International Business and Education, Inc., d/b/a International High School of New Orleans  (15-CA-182627; 365 NLRB No. 66)  New Orleans, LA, May 5, 2017.   The Board granted the General Counsel’s motion for summary judgment in this test-of-certification case on the ground that the Respondent failed to raise any issues that were not, or…

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15 May 2017 The Saga Continues: NLRB’s Browning-Ferris Decision On Joint Employment Still Drawing Attention – This Time From Congress

National Labor Relations Board | David Pryzbylski

  Since the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its now infamous Browning-Ferris decision in August 2015 that significantly altered its standard for evaluating “joint employment,” businesses – particularly those utilizing franchise models – have been concerned and confused about how broadly that standard is to be applied.  In Browning-Ferris,  the NLRB stated that it will no longer require that a company actually exercise control over a workforce’s terms and conditions of employment in order…

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10 May 2017 Judge Blocks Pilot Slowdown at Spirit Airlines

Strikes and Picketing, Union Organizing | Gerald Lutkus

  Spirit Airlines secured a temporary restraining order on May 9 against the Air Lines Pilot Association (ALPA) that called for the pilots’ union to stop its alleged work slowdown against the carrier.   U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas issued the emergency order, saying that Spirit “will suffer immediate and irreparable damage in the form of damage to its business reputation and customer goodwill, increased costs for measures designed to avoid flight delays and…

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04 May 2017 Summary of NLRB Decisions for Week of April 24-28

National Labor Relations Board | btlabor

  The summary of NLRB decisions for the week of April 24-28 is now available.   Summarized Board Decisions   Diamond Trucking, Inc.  (25-CA-144424; 365 NLRB No. 64)  Peru, IN, April 25, 2017.   The Board (Members Pearce and McFerran; Chairman Miscimarra, dissenting) granted the General Counsel’s exceptions to the Administrative Law Judge’s conclusion that the Union did not have an objective, factual basis for believing that an alter-ego relationship existed to establish the relevance of…

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03 May 2017 Persuader Rule Still in Limbo

Federal Laws and Legislation | Adam Bartrom

  Earlier this week, the Trump administration told a Minnesota district court judge that it needs additional time – until July 3 – to file the government’s position on the Persuader Rule. The administration said “[t]he United States Department of Labor still awaits the arrival of key political leadership prior to making final decisions as to the issues raised by this litigation . . . .”   Meanwhile, further south, a Texas district court judge’s decision…

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01 May 2017 NLRB Appointments in the Works?

National Labor Relations Board | Gerald Lutkus

  Published reports indicate that two appointments are in the works for the NLRB that will bring the Board up to its full complement and finally swing the Board’s majority back to the Republicans.   Bloomberg BNA is reporting that the Trump Administration has narrowed the field down to Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel to fill the two openings on the Board.  Kaplan is an attorney for the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, an…

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