The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently held that an employer’s proposal and adherence to proposals could in itself be deemed to be unlawful bad faith bargaining. District Hospital Partners, 375 NLRB No. 55...more
In the 21st century world of employee relations, most corporate cultures and mission statements include a tenet regarding employee engagement. Engaged employees are believed to be more productive and less likely to leave for...more
When faced with potential employee organizing activity, some employers react by trying to address worker grievances through alternatives to union representation. Sometimes these approaches involve establishing an internal...more
Employers: Don’t throw out your open-door policy just because your employees are unionizing. That’s the message the National Labor Relations Board shared this week in cautioning companies against telling their employees...more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently overturned a 2016 decision holding that an employer violates Sections 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by failing to provide notice and an...more
On May 21, 2020, the NLRB issued a decision in Altura Communication Solutions, LLC. The case asked the Board to consider whether a series of broad proposals made by the employer during collective bargaining amounted to bad...more
We have often reported about how an employer’s failure to adequately respond to an information request made by a union can lead to unfair labor practice charges and litigation. Sometimes a union makes an information request...more
The National Labor Relations Board recently overturned a decision issued in 2014 and returned to its time-honored standard for post-arbitral deferral in unfair labor practice cases alleging discipline or discharge in...more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) delivered two New Year’s gifts to employers regarding deferral to arbitration and restrictions on union buttons....more
The Trump National Labor Relations Board (Board or NLRB) gifted employers a significant win on the eve of the Christmas holiday with its December 23 decision in United Parcel Service, Inc., 369 NLRB No. 1 (UPS), which...more
In yet another end-of-2019 decision overruling significant NLRA precedent, the Board reverted to the less stringent Spielberg / Olin standard for determining whether to defer to arbitration decisions in the context of Section...more
Overruling 2014 precedent, see Babcock & Wilcox Construction, 361 NLRB 1127 (2014), the National Labor Relations Board (Board), last week in UPS, Inc. 369 NLRB No. 1 (Dec. 23, 2019), returned to the standard that applied from...more
On December 23, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB, or the Board) overturned an Obama-era decision regarding deference to labor arbitration proceedings....more
The alternative dispute resolution landscape continues to evolve for employers with unionized workforces. Anheuser-Busch, LCC, 367 NLRB 123 (May 22, 2019), is the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) latest decision on the...more
National Labor Relations Board’s field office staff have been directed to prosecute a broader array of cases against unions that engage in negligent behavior toward their members, according to an internal memorandum obtained...more
Employers subject to collective bargaining relationships often complain about the time they spend responding to objectively meritless grievances. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On Friday, December 1, 2017, newly appointed NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb issued a memorandum containing a broad overview of his initial agenda as General Counsel. It previews many anticipated...more
It is mid-November, and the Board is at a full complement, and even has a new General Counsel. While we haven’t seen anything significant (or really, anything at all) come out of the newly constituted Board we know the new...more
We are on the verge of the Board majority changing for the first time in approximately a decade. The President’s two appointees, if confirmed, will bring the Board up to a full five members. After the new members are seated...more
In another example of the inconsistency of the current state of Board law, a 2-1 majority of the NLRB ruled that an employer not only had a management right but it wasn’t necessary that this right be expressly set forth in...more
An employee goes on television and maligns his bosses for a new company policy with half-truths—and his bosses fire him for disloyalty. Sounds justified, right? Wrong. A National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision...more
In a 2-1 ruling in DirecTV Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed the NLRB’s ruling that DirecTV must reinstate technicians who were terminated for complaining about a...more
The NLRB recently reversed 37 years of precedent in deciding to adopt a new standard for a union’s access to witness statements taken in pre-grievance arbitration employer investigations. For years, under the blanket...more
In a decision issued last week, an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) for the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) ruled that an interim grievance procedure between an employer and a newly-certified union did not have to...more