Unions

On August 18, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law S315 (22R), which aims to protect employment and wages and benefits during changes in control at health care facilities. When a change in control occurs, the former and “successor” health care employers will now both have new, and very significant, legal obligations.… Continue Reading

On April 7, 2022, in a move that could dramatically alter long-established employer tactics in union organizing campaigns, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memorandum announcing that she will ask the Board to find what are commonly known as “captive audience” meetings to constitute an unfair labor practice (ULP) under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).… Continue Reading

On February 7, 2022, the Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment publicly released its report to President Joe Biden, offering nearly 70 recommendations to promote pro-union policies and practices in the public and private sectors. The Task Force, chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, embodies President Biden’s vow to be the “most pro-union President” in United States history.… Continue Reading

On February 1, 2022 National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo announced an initiative to seek injunctions under Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act in cases “where workers have been subject to threats or other coercive conduct during an organizing campaign.”  According to her memo, Abruzzo opines that, “because threats or other coercion have a well-recognized inhibitive effect on employees, there is a likelihood of immediate harm to employee organizing efforts.”… 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