Employment Law Blog

New NLRB Memo Says Non-Compete Agreements Violate NLRA

Following the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) January proposal to ban non-compete agreements, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a memo stating that non-compete agreements, except in very specific circumstances, violate the National Labor Relations Act. Any employer who uses non-compete agreements, or other agreements that functionally serve as non-competes, should be bracing for impact. More >

NLRB Modifies Test for Bargaining Units, Resurrecting the Dreaded Micro-Unit

On December 14, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision in the case American Steel Construction, Inc., modifying the test for determining inclusions in bargaining units. The Board’s decision reverts the test to an Obama-era standard that allows unions to form smaller, easier-to-organize bargaining units known as “micro-units”—the mention of which will send many employers into a panic. More >

NLRB GC Seeks to End Captive Audience Meetings

In yet another bid to weaken employers’ stance in the face of organized labor, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has issued a memo calling for an end to employer-led “captive audience” meetings. This move by the NLRB threatens one of employers’ key tools for curbing unionization in the workplace and is yet another foreboding sign of the Biden administration’s pro-labor agenda. More >

Boeing, Boeing, Gone! NLRB GC Recommends Reversal of Employer Handbook Standards

With any new administration in Washington comes changes to the National Labor Relations Board. From the start, Biden’s NLRB has made clear their goal to reverse the employer-friendly handbook standards established by the Boeing decision, and the General Counsel’s March 7^th post-hearing brief includes recommendations that take further steps towards that goal. More >

WEBINAR - All Handbooks on Deck

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ALERT: NLRB General Counsel Signals Sea Change in Labor Regulation

For more on this subject, register here for our October 12th webinar, All Handbooks on Deck: How the Changing Tides of the NLRB May Lead Your Employee Policies into Rough Waters.

The new National Labor Relations Board General Counsel has issued a memo outlining her issues priorities, and it’s a doozy for employers. The broad outlines of the policy reconsiderations are massive in scope, effectively revisiting the entirety of the NLRB output over the last four years. While a discussion of the larger implications of each policy provision will be forthcoming, here is a general outline of what’s in store from the NLRB going forward, and employers should already be set to make some changes. More >

Abusive or Offensive Language? NLRB Says “@#$% No” to Section 7 Protection

On July 21, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued an important decision in General Motors, LLC and Charles Robinson, modifying the standard to be used in determining whether an employee has been unlawfully disciplined or discharged for abusive or offensive statements or conduct while engaged in protected concerted activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). This decision is intended to provide needed clarity and give employers more leeway in disciplining employees for egregious misconduct and upholding existing anti-discrimination laws and policies. More >

Political Speech in the Workplace: Can I Just Make It Go Away?

Every four years like clockwork, it happens: presidential politics becomes the focus of our national attention, seemingly dominating all aspects of our lives. The national conversation becomes one of campaign rhetoric, and anecdotal evidence suggests that it has only gotten more divisive. The conventional wisdom says that the two things one is never supposed to discuss at work are religion and politics, yet the political conversation can’t help but spill into the workplace, with the attendant potential for division and conflict. As an employer trying to foster productivity and keep the peace in the workplace, is there anything you can do? As it turns out, there’s quite a lot. More >

NLRB: A Sole Employee Filing a Class Action Lawsuit is Protected Concerted Activity

The National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) definition of the word “concerted” is beginning to extend past its common sense meaning. The NLRB has been expanding what counts as “concerted” activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“Section 7”) to cover a multitude of activities lately, and in 200 E. 81st Restaurant Corp., it stretches the definition just a bit farther. More >

Parent Companies Ready for Labor Pains? NLRB Adopts New Joint Employer Standard

The end of August saw the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issue a highly-anticipated opinion in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc.[1] In that opinion, the NLRB broadened the standard for what it considers a “joint employer,” a definition that had remained unchanged since Reagan-era appointees adopted a stricter standard in the 1980s (coincidentally, the earlier standard, endorsed by the Third Circuit in 1982, came in an earlier case against Browning-Ferris Industries of Pennsylvania, Inc. It is entirely possible that Browning-Ferris Industries exists as a company entirely to set joint employer standards before the NLRB). The new standard is liable to create headaches for corporations with subcontractors or franchisees, as it has the potential for parent companies to be held liable for labor violations at lower entity levels. More >