Labor Relations Law Blog

On July 3rd, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit decided a case involving the interplay between Sections 7 and 10(c) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). On the one hand, employers may not discharge employees for engaging in activities protected by Section 7 of the NLRA, including employees’ communications to third parties or to the public that seek to improve their lot as employees. On the ...

On June 27th, President Trump announced the selection of William Emanuel, an experienced management-side labor attorney in private practice, for the second of two vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB oversees and adjudicates union elections and disputes between employers, workers, and unions. It also enacts rules and regulations in furtherance of its role to enforce the National ...

On June 19th, President Trump announced his intention to nominate attorney Marvin Kaplan, a Republican, to the National Labor Relations Board. Kaplan currently serves as Chief Counsel of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Previously, Kaplan worked with the U.S. House of Representatives.

The NLRB, which oversees union elections and disputes between employers, workers, and unions ...

On June 7, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) ruled that a company committed an unfair labor practice by unlawfully interrogating and discharging an employee. Specifically, in RHCG Safety Corp. and Construction & General Building Laborers, Local 79, LIUNA, 356 NLRB No. 88, 2017 WL 2497155, the NLRB found National Labor Relations Act (“Act”) violations when a supervisor sent an employee a text message inquiring about the employee’s union activity, and then told him there was no work for him.

The NLRB recently held that temporary employees and regular employees have a right to petition to join a combined bargaining unit, even if the staffing agency and employer object to the formation of the combined unit. In Miller & Anderson, 364 NLRB No. 9 (July 11, 2016), the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) continued its campaign to undermine third-party staffing relationships.  The decision ...

One of the principal criticisms aimed at the National Labor Relations Board in recent years is its penchant for ordering businesses to restore facilities or operations which it has decided to relocate elsewhere.  In the recent case of Gunderson Rail Service, LLC decided June 23, 2016, the NLRB did just that, by ordering a Tucson, Arizona employer to restore its operations there on the grounds that it failed to ...

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) furthered its quest to expand the remedies available under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) with a recent victory in the DC Circuit.  In Camelot Terrace, the DC Circuit held that the NLRB may order an employer to reimburse a union for its bargaining expenses for instances of “flagrant” or “egregious” bad faith bargaining.  Camelot Terrace, et al. v ...

A new NLRB decision dramatically restricts the ability of employers to “permanently replace” economic strikers.  See Piedmont Gardens, 364 NLRB No. 13 (May 31, 2016).  Since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision of NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Co., 304 U.S. 333 (1938), it has been understood that employers have a broad right to “permanently replace” employees who are on an economic strike.  ...

In a new enforcement memorandum, the NLRB General Counsel has directed the Regional Offices to pursue litigation opportunities to overturn existing law on withdrawal of union recognition.  See Memorandum GC 16-03 (5/9/16).  Under current law, an employer may withdraw union recognition when presented with objective evidence of an actual lack of majority support among the unit employees.  Typically, this ...