Even when NLRB Orders it, Employers have Little Guidance on Work Authorization Procedures

Quick, employers: you make a job offer to a promising applicant, only to find out that his work authorization papers are less than perfect. He has a social security card and number but something seems… off. (“Is that a letter in the social security number? Is that even possible?”) What do you do? Withdraw the offer? Proceed with the hire and pretend you didn’t see any problem?

The answer is not a simple one and, in the end, the law leaves employers to use their own reasonable judgment. But what is “reasonable,” anyways? Guidance from the government on that question is scant. Add to this the fact that a wrong decision in either direction (i.e., denying employment to an authorized worker or granting employment to an unauthorized one) can lead to all sorts of troubles, and you’ve got a headache at best and, at worst, a potential lawsuit. More ›

Does your Handbook hold up? The NLRB Offers Guidance for Employment Policies

Having an employee handbook is an effective way to communicate the rules of the workplace and the employer's expectations of its employees. Employers not only use handbooks in day-to-day personnel management activities, but also for discipline and termination, and as a defense in litigated disputes. It is, therefore, important for those handbooks to be compliant with applicable state and federal authorities.

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ALJ Finds Employer's Pizza Party, Cash and Gift Card Bonuses Interfered with Union Election

SBM Management Services, Inc. provides custodial services for certain commercial facilities. After the company took over the custodial contract at a particular facility, it had regular employee meetings on Fridays. At the meeting six days before a union election, SBM provided pizza for employees and certain employees were given bonus checks or gift cards, neither of which were common or regular occurrences. The election was conducted and only eight votes were cast in favor of the union, which then filed objections to SBM's conduct as allegedly affecting the results of the election.  The matter proceeded to an unfair labor practice proceeding to determine whether SBM violated section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act such that the results of the election should be set aside. More ›

NLRB Reverses Course, Finds that Employees have Right to use Employers’ Email for Union Organizing

In a decision made public on December 12, the National Labor Relations Board have ruled that employees have a presumptive right to use employers’ email systems on nonworking time for union organizing and other purposes that are protected by the National Labor Relations Act. In other words, if an employer provides its employees with access to a company email system, the employer must then allow employees to use that email system to discuss terms and conditions of employment and to organize. The Board, overruling its own 2007 Register Guard decision, found that it could no longer “[close its] eyes to the importance of electronic means of communication to employees’ exercise of their rights under the Act.” “[E]mail has become such a significant conduit for employees’ communications with one another,” the Board found “that it is effectively a new ‘natural gathering place’.”  More ›

No Class Action Waivers in Arbitration Agreements, Says NLRB

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has decided to follow its own oft-criticized 2012 decision in D.R. Horton, holding that arbitration agreements barring class action lawsuits about working conditions, which are signed by employees as a condition of employment, are unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act. More ›

NLRB Finds that Employer Could Rescind Offers After Workers Discussed Detailed Insubordination Plans on Facebook

In a (rare) positive social media decision for employers, the NLRB ruled on October 28th in Richmond District Neighborhood Center, Case 20–CA–091748 (Oct. 28, 2014), that two employees who discussed their insubordination plans in great detail in a Facebook “comment thread” lost the National Labor Relations Act’s protections. The discussion, the Board held, was not "protected, concerted activity," and the employees, therefore, could not file an unfair labor practice charge after they were not rehired as a result of their comments.  More ›

NLRB Expands Definition of "Protected Activity"

Margaret Elias, a cashier at the grocery store chain, sought to file an internal sexual harassment complaint after a note she wrote on a whiteboard in the employee breakroom was altered with some offensive comments and illustrations. In preparing her complaint, Elias drew a copy of the whiteboard alterations and asked her manager and two of her coworkers to sign the illustration. Elias told each of the individuals she asked to sign the drawing that she was planning on filing a complaint with management. After obtaining the signatures, Elias added comments to the paper stating that she considered the whiteboard alterations to constitute sexual harassment. Elias admitted that she never intended to file a joint complaint on behalf of any other employees, but that she believed that other female employees would also be offended by the conduct and wanted to stop it from happening again. More ›

After NLRB v. Canning: A Practical Guide for Employers

The Supreme Court's decision last week in NLRB v. Canning left many employers scratching their heads—and with good reason.

Sure, the unanimous ruling served as a rebuke to the Obama Administration, and hundreds of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rulings expanding employee rights and protections have been wiped off the books.  But what exactly is the current state of the law?  And how should you, as an employer, proceed in terms of creating and implementing employment-related policies? More ›

Supreme Court Strikes NLRB Recess Appointments

The United States Supreme Court has struck down President Obama's controversial 2012 nominations to the NLRB, holding that the President violated the Constitution by using his recess appointments power when the Senate was still in session.

The ruling in NLRB v. Noel Canning calls into question hundreds of mostly pro-union NLRB decisions rendered by the improperly constituted board. It also will limit the ability of future presidents unilaterally to fill agency vacancies with highly partisan appointees. More ›

NLRB Finds Policy Requiring Employees to Represent Employer in a “Positive and Professional” Manner is Unlawful

In a decision issued earlier this week, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that portions of an employer’s standards of conduct policy were unlawful because they could be reasonably construed to prohibit employees’ right to engage in protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act. The decision can only be described as the most recent in an increasingly long series of these cases, in which the Board has consistently found that language thought by an employer to be reasonable and appropriate actually violated the Act. More ›