Articles and Blogs

In a highly anticipated decision, the NLRB has restated and redefined the standard for determining when employers will be found to be joint employers for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).  The NLRA governs labor management relations in the private sector.  This three-to-two decision applies long-established principles to find that two or... READ MORE

Employees in the private sector have a legally protected right to engage in concerted activity for their mutual aid and protection. The NLRB has interpreted this to mean that employees have the right to discuss among themselves ongoing confidential investigations initiated by the employer in response to workplace complaints. An employer that requires or... READ MORE

The NLRB has again decided that using profanity-laced Facebook postings specifically aimed at management is legally protected.  This decision  by two members of the NLRB, despite one strong dissent, continues the pattern of granting legal protections to employees who use profanity in exercising their protected rights in support of a union or other group... READ MORE

A Helpful Memo? Almost every employer has an employee handbook of some sort or at least a set of rules and policies that are established to let employees know what is expected of them. In the private sector, the NLRB has been focusing for several years on rules and policies that are too broad... READ MORE

 Right to Work Becomes Law in Wisconsin Wisconsin, long known as a bastion for unions and the labor movement, has become the 25th Right to Work state after Governor Scott Walker signed Senate Bill No. 44 into law on March 9, 2015. Wisconsin’s new Right to Work law will prohibit employers from requiring employees to... READ MORE

A company that provides wheelchair accessible van transportation services to clients, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, got into trouble when it required employees to sign a confidentiality agreement that the NLRB found interfered with employees’ protected rights. The company was ordered to rescind the unlawful portions of the agreement and notify all employees that... READ MORE

Employers may run into trouble with employees and the NLRB for interfering with protected activity if social media posts are restricted. On the other hand, employers could be liable to customers if they permit employees to post hostile statements and information. This quandary was highlighted by the holding in a recent federal court case. Was... READ MORE

By now private employers should be well aware that employees who openly criticize management and refuse to obey instructions will often be found to be engaging in lawful, protected activity by the NLRB. Another very recent decision by the NLRB brings home that point again – even where no union is involved. READ MORE

One day after issuing a controversial decision regarding employees’ rights to use an employer’s email system for union organizing (detailed in this blog), the NLRB has adopted its final rule significantly shortening the timeline for union elections in the private sector. We have blogged extensively on the development of this rule as can be... READ MORE

Rejecting and overruling its 2007 decision in Register Guard that limited employee rights to use employer email systems for union organizing, the NLRB, in a three to two decision, significantly broadened the scope of private employee rights to use an employer’s email system for union organizing purposes and other protected activity.  The decision focused on... READ MORE