NLRB

The U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (DOL-WHD) and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced plans to collaborate “to enhance and maximize the enforcement of the federal laws administered between the two agencies.”  The DOL-WHD enforces the minimum wage and overtime requirements while the NLRB enforces the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).… Continue Reading

On November 10, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) issued a Memorandum outlining employers’ duty to bargain with unions over the implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS).

The Memo provides that employers have bargaining obligations regarding aspects of the ETS that affect terms and conditions of employment, to the extent the ETS provides employers with choices regarding implementation.… Continue Reading

In a statement that portends additional scrutiny of the “working conditions” of college and university athletes, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has publicly stated her view that scholarship athletes at academic institutions are employees who have the right to organize and to be protected from discrimination and retaliation when they act concertedly to improve their working conditions.… Continue Reading

On September 15, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)’s General Counsel instructed regional offices to take a more aggressive stance in settlement negotiations in unfair labor practice cases, seeking broader remedies for workers.

In GC Memorandum 21-07, which builds upon GC Memorandum 21-06 issued last week, new NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo encouraged regional offices to be creative in the remedies sought in settlement, reasoning that they may be able to obtain more for workers during settlement than in litigation before the Board.… Continue Reading

On August 12, 2021, the new General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board), Jennifer Abruzzo, announced her intention to target certain legal decisions issued in the last four years that she described as “doctrinal shifts” away from settled law, and a set of older decisions that she would like to “carefully examine.” … Continue Reading

Yesterday, the United States Senate confirmed Gwynne Wilcox and David Prouty to seats on the National Labor Relations Board (Board). These confirmations seal the deal on a Democratic majority on the Board and undoubtedly will mean re-visiting much of the Board precedent established under the Trump-era Board (which, in turn, had overturned many of the Obama Board’s most controversial decisions).… Continue Reading

On July 21, 2021, in a 3-1 decision, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) ruled that a union does not violate federal labor law with the display of the infamous “Scabby the Rat,” and other similar inflatable symbols, at workplaces that do not employ those union’s workers.   Former NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb, a Trump appointee, had long attempted to kill off Scabby, arguing that using the balloons at secondary protests was an unlawful attempt to threaten and coerce neutral parties.… Continue Reading

Within hours of his inauguration, President Biden broke with tradition by firing the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after he refused to resign.  Some companies have claimed that this decision was improper and left the acting General Counsel named in his place without legal authority to act, setting up an anticipated wave of legal challenges.… Continue Reading

On June 9, 2021, in Professional Transportation Inc., the National Labor Relations Board held that a party’s offer to collect an employee’s mail ballot constitutes misconduct that may serve as the basis to set aside the election. 370 NLRB No. 132.

The Board has previously held that a party engages in objectionable conduct when it handles or collects a mail-in ballot.… Continue Reading

On April 21, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board (“Board” or “NLRB”) voted to keep in place its long standing rule limiting when workers can try to remove an existing union from the workplace or bring in another – the so-called “contract bar” doctrine.

In June of last year, the Board invited public comment on the contract bar issue and received briefs from unions, employer advocates, lawmakers, and others on the subject. … Continue Reading