Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), employees have the right to determine whether union representation is in their best interests. The freedom of employees to make this critical choice in an atmosphere free of coercion or intimidation is one of the Act’s bedrock principles.
On August 12, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) with regard to certain of its election and recognition policies.
On July 31, 2019, Mexico’s Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare or Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social (STPS) published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (Diario Oficial de la Federación) (DOF) the protocol to legitimize currently existing collective bargaining agreements (CBAs).
On May 7, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision that will be welcomed by employers desiring to maintain differences in the benefits provided to their union and nonunion employees.
Ogletree Deakins’ Traditional Labor Relations Practice Group is pleased to announce the publication of the spring 2019 issue of the Practical NLRB Advisor. This edition provides a close look at the development of the independent-contractor standard at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB’s recent decision on this issue—one of the most critical legal questions of the day, both in the context of traditional labor law and in employment law generally—marks yet another significant reversal of Obama-era NLRB decisional law.
The Iowa Supreme Court released five eagerly awaited opinions upholding the 2017 amendments to the Public Employment Relations Act (PERA). The main case on which the four other companion cases relied was American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Iowa Counsel 61 v. State of Iowa, No. 17-1841 (May 17, 2019).
In Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, No. 16-1466 (June 27, 2018), the Supreme Court of the United States significantly expanded the rights of nonunion public employees by holding that unions may not collect fees from such employees without their consent.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) have disclaimed the bargaining unit of 160 skilled-trades workers at Volkswagen’s (VW) Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant. The union organized the maintenance employees in 2015 but failed to secure a first contract for the group. In the past few years, the UAW has accused VW of multiple unfair labor practices, including that VW violated federal law by refusing to bargain.
In a long-awaited decision, United Nurses & Allied Professionals (Kent Hospital), issued on March 1, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that a private-sector union may not require nonmember objectors (also known as Beck objectors) to pay for its political lobbying expenses because lobbying falls outside the union’s “representational function.”
Construction employers and general contractors are all too familiar with Scabby the Rat. The inflatable rat—appearing in sizes of up to a reported 30 feet tall—has infested construction job sites as part of trade union protest activities targeting employers that are not signatory to union labor agreements.
Ogletree Deakins’ Traditional Labor Relations Practice Group is pleased to announce the publication of the winter 2019 issue of the Practical NLRB Advisor.
On January 25, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision friendly to businesses—particularly those operating in the gig economy.
On January 11, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board issued an employer-friendly decision in Alstate Maintenance LLC, 367 NLRB 68 (2019), narrowing the scope of protection for employee complaints.
In 2019, employers can expect positive developments as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) addresses a number of significant issues under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
On December 28, 2018, the D.C. Circuit issued its long-awaited decision regarding the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) 2015 decision in Browning-Ferris Industries.
On December 7, 2018, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Peter Robb issued General Counsel Memorandum 19-02, Reducing Case Processing Time (GC 19-02). The memorandum describes significant changes to unfair labor practice (ULP) charge investigations conducted by the agency’s regional offices.
A recent decision by a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge (ALJ) serves as a good reminder that even nonunion employees in healthcare settings are protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that a New Orleans charter school was not a “political subdivision” exempt from the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
Ogletree Deakins’ Traditional Labor Relations Practice Group is pleased to announce the publication of the fall 2018 issue of the Practical NLRB Advisor. This issue examines the Supreme Court’s decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, which is destined to have a profound impact on the labor movement and on labor-management relations.
On September 14, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register addressing how it will determine whether an employer is a joint employer of another entity’s employees.
Approximately three years after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) turned its decades old joint-employer standard on its head in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc. d/b/a BFI Newby Island Recyclery, on September 13, 2018, the Board proposed a rule to correct that mistake and return balance to the labor-management landscape.
On August 10, 2018, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation allowing striking workers to collect unemployment benefits under several new and potentially expansive circumstances.
The majority of unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against employers are either withdrawn, dismissed or settled. My February 7, 2014 article discussed the former general counsel’s (GC) 2011 mandate (GC Memo 11-04) requiring National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Directors to include “default language” in every informal settlement agreement.
On August 1, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) invited briefs on “whether the Board should adhere to, modify, or overrule its 2014 decision in Purple Communications, Inc.” The following questions and answers revisit Purple Communications and examine the standard the NLRB may return to if it does indeed overrule that landmark case.
A little-known but crucial position at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)—the director of the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)—was finally filled on July 9, 2018, by Arthur F. Rosenfeld, an experienced former member of the administration of President George W. Bush.
The decades-long battle over union security faces two important pivot points during the summer of 2018. On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States handed unions a major defeat in the season’s first major fight. With its 5-4 decision in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, the Court prohibited union security in the public sector, even in the form of “fair share” fees aimed at representational expenses, as impermissible violations of the First Amendment.
On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States announced its decision in a case that tested the constitutionality of requiring mandatory payment of “fair share” union dues to be paid by non-member public sector workers.
The recent split decision of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Circus Circus Casinos, Inc., 366 NLRB No. 110 (June 15, 2018), is a reminder that the validity of an employee’s request for Weingarten assistance at an investigatory interview or disciplinary hearing often turns on the nature of the request and the factual circumstances surrounding it.
On June 6, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) general counsel (GC) issued a new guidance memorandum (GC Memo 18-04) that contains updated guidance on how the regional offices should be reviewing and interpreting unfair labor practice charges involving employer handbook language and work rules.
On May 17, 2018, the Missouri General Assembly adopted a comprehensive rewrite of Missouri public sector labor law in House Bill 1413 (HB 1413), which primarily concentrates on the public sector labor law provisions of Chapter 105 of the Missouri Code.
