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On June 1, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) does not preempt an employer’s state court tort claims alleging a union intentionally destroyed the employer’s property during a strike. The ruling is significant for employers in that it could open the door for lawsuits against unions to protect their interests and recover the value of property destroyed during increasingly contentious labor disputes.

In yet another effort to speed up the processing of cases, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel on May 22, 2023, issued a memorandum instructing Regional Offices to speed up compliance with Board-ordered remedies in labor cases.

On May 1, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision in  Lion Elastomers LLC II that changes the standards relating to discipline or discharge of workers who cross the line with offensive or abusive conduct while engaging in activity protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

On April 20, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) imposed a host of expanded remedies against an employer that allegedly committed a number of repeated labor law violations in the context of collective bargaining. The decision signals the Board’s willingness to impose harsh remedies against employers more frequently, in the full spectrum of unfair labor practice litigation. Employers everywhere now face the prospect of defending against requests for harsh remedies when litigating a wide range of unfair labor practice charges.

On April 7, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) released its filing data through the first half of its fiscal year (FY) 2023 (October 1–March 31). Through the first six months of the fiscal year, filing activity continued to build on record increases that developed in FY 2022.

On March 22, 2023, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel (GC) Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memorandum clarifying the Board’s February 2023 decision that nondisparagement and confidentiality provisions in severance agreements are unlawful. In the memorandum, the GC states that she interprets the decision to apply retroactively to agreements already signed and that claims would not be time-barred as long as an employer maintains or enforces such terms.

Ogletree Deakins’ Traditional Labor Relations Practice Group is pleased to announce the publication of the Winter 2023 issue of the Practical NLRB Advisor. This issue provides an overview of a host of controversial decisions and sharply divided opinions issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) resulting from the mid-December 2022 departure of Republican Board member John F. Ring.

In a decision instructive to employers facing sudden, emergency conditions requiring immediate response, a divided National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Metro Man IV, LLC d/b/a Fountain Bleu Health and Rehabilitation Center, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 37 (December 28, 2022), expanded an employer’s obligation to bargain with a union in the aftermath of exigent circumstances.

On January 10, 2023, justices for the Supreme Court of the United States questioned attorneys for a ready-mix concrete company and the union representing its truck drivers over whether claims to recover the value of the company’s property destroyed as a result of a strike are preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The case, Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174, could provide clarity for employers on how employers can recover the value of property that is destroyed during increasingly contentious labor disputes.

In another ruling promoting a pro-labor agenda under the Biden administration, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reverted to its pre-2019 precedent on the balance between the rights of property owners and the rights of employees under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Ogletree Deakins’ Traditional Labor Relations Practice Group is pleased to announce the publication of the Summer 2022 issue of the Practical NLRB Advisor. In this issue, the Advisor takes a small departure from our usual practice of providing readers a snapshot of, and insights into, the current state of U.S. labor law. Instead, this issue aims to engage the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on some of the latest issues on the labor landscape.

In a decision impacting employers that face a petition for election that seeks to represent part of the workforce, a divided National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) returned to its former Specialty Healthcare standard to apply to bargaining-unit determination cases in American Steel Construction, Inc. (372 NLRB No. 23).

Fulfilling a top priority for National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer A. Abruzzo’s activist agenda, on December 13, 2022, the Board issued a decision that expands, arguably beyond statutory limits, the remedies recoverable by a successful charging party in unfair labor practice cases. The NLRB ruled that its make-whole remedy includes compensating employees “for all direct or foreseeable pecuniary harms suffered” as a consequence of labor violations.

In a decision dated September 30, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that employers must continue to collect voluntarily authorized union dues from the paychecks of employees after the expiration of the agreement.

It has been almost two years since the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its decision in Aspirus Keweenaw in 2020, setting forth the standards that Regional Directors use to determine the efficacy of manual-ballot elections in a post-COVID-19 world.

In a decision significant to employers that employ strike replacement employees or that may consider hiring strike replacement employees, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that such employees hold the right to request the presence of a union representative during an investigatory interview that may lead to discipline.

On September 6, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) unveiled a draft notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to replace its current rule, which clearly defines when two separate entities can be deemed joint employers under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), with the short-lived and much criticized standard it had articulated in its 2015 Browning-Ferris Industries decision.

Ogletree Deakins’ Traditional Labor Relations Practice Group is pleased to announce the publication of the Summer 2022 issue of the Practical NLRB Advisor. In this issue, the Advisor takes a small departure from our usual practice of providing readers a snapshot of, and insights into, the current state of U.S. labor law. Instead, this issue aims to engage the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on some of the latest issues on the labor landscape.