NLRB Issues Several Advice Memoranda Providing Guidance on COVID-Related and...
On September 15, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB” or “Board”) Division of Advice (“Advice”), published four Advice Memoranda addressing an array of issues ranging from...
View ArticleSignificant Workplace Changes in Store under the Biden Administration
From pay equity to an increased minimum wage, pro-worker and pro-union labor policies, and additional anti-discrimination protections, President-elect Biden has touted support for numerous legislative...
View ArticleRecent Labor Victories for Adjunct Professors Signal Likely Uptick in...
Recently, adjunct professors at Elon University and Ithaca College won victories before the NLRB and an American Arbitration Association arbitrator, respectively, that further bolster the position that...
View ArticleBoard Invites Briefing on Potentially Overturning “Johnnie’s Poultry”...
On Monday, the Board voted 3-1 to solicit public briefing on whether it should overrule the Johnnie’s Poultry Co., 146 NLRB 770 (1964) safeguards employees must receive if they are questioned by...
View ArticleBREAKING: NLRB Withdraws Proposed Rule Concerning Employee-Status of Student...
After publishing the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking over a year ago, followed by tens of thousands of public comments and many months of anticipating the final rule, the NLRB announced today that it...
View ArticleNLRB Suffers Significant Turnover in Agency Staffing
In a report released on March 29, 2021, the Governmental Accountability Office (“GAO”) announced that between fiscal years 2010 and 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) experienced a 26%...
View ArticleNLRB General Counsel Promises “Vigorous” Enforcement of Employees’ Rights to...
On March 31, 2021, the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel Peter Ohr issued a Memorandum entitled “Effectuation of the National Labor Relations Act through Vigorous Enforcement of Mutual Aid or Protection...
View ArticleNLRB Upholds Contract-Bar Doctrine in Current Form
On April 21, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) declined to eliminate or modify its long-standing contract-bar doctrine, which purports to provide stability in the relationship...
View ArticleBiden Administration Announces White House Task Force on Worker Organizing...
On Monday, April 26, 2021, the White House released a press briefing detailing the establishment of a new White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment (the “Task Force”). The Task Force,...
View ArticleNLRB Declines to Address Validity of Acting GC’s Appointment, Instead...
On April 30, 2021, in National Association of Broadcast Employees & Technicians, 370 NLRB No. 114 (2021), the Board declined to opine on the validity of President Biden’s termination of former...
View ArticleNinth Circuit Overturns Board Decision Finding Unlawful Secondary Picketing,...
Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned a decision by the NLRB dismissing a complaint against two joint employers alleging unlawful termination in retaliation for...
View ArticleDistrict Court Approves of President Biden’s Firing of Former NLRB General...
As we reported here and here, there are several challenges to the authority of the Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, Peter Sung Ohr, given President Biden’s unprecedented...
View ArticleBREAKING: Jennifer Abruzzo is Sworn In as General Counsel of the NLRB
After being nominated by President Biden on February 17, 2021, Jennifer Abruzzo was sworn in as General Counsel of the NLRB yesterday by Chairman Lauren McFerran. Abruzzo will serve a four-year term as...
View ArticleScabby the Rat Has Been Legitimized by the NLRB
A split Board concluded this week that a union did not engage in unlawful secondary activity under the NLRA when it stationed a 12-foot-tall inflatable rat—known all too well by employers as “Scabby...
View ArticleThe NLRB’s Recently Seated General Counsel Plots Entirely New Direction for...
Less than a month after being sworn in as the new General Counsel of the NLRB, Jennifer Abruzzo defined a bold new direction for the Board’s enforcement priorities in a memo issued on August 12, 2021....
View ArticleSecond Circuit Adopts “Contract Coverage” Standard as Governing Standard for...
The NLRB’s “contract coverage” standard for determining whether a collective bargaining agreement privileges an employer to unilaterally change terms and conditions of employment received support last...
View ArticleNew NLRB General Counsel Signals Greater Utilization of 10(j) Injunctions
The recently-sworn in General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, Jennifer Abruzzo, has had a busy month, setting the stage for a slate of new enforcement initiatives. First, the GC issued...
View ArticleNLRB General Counsel Abruzzo Encourages Regions to Utilize More Significant...
In keeping with the momentum of her Office, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memorandum yesterday to all Regional Offices advising them to request that the Board...
View ArticleHouse Committee Attempts to Secure “PRO Act” Changes to Labor Law Through...
As we have discussed in previous posts, the Protect the Right to Organize Act (“PRO Act”), which would drastically and fundamentally change the nature and scope of the National Labor Relations Act...
View ArticleD.C. Circuit Court Rules NLRB’s Access to Property Test is Arbitrary
General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, Jennifer Abruzzo, is already on her way to accomplishing one of the objectives she laid out in her recent Advice-Memorandum 21-04. In the GC’s...
View ArticleBREAKING: General Counsel Abruzzo Announces that College Athletes Are Employees
Yesterday, General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a very significant memorandum on the status of college athletes as “employees” under the National Labor Relations Act. Statutory Rights of Players at...
View ArticleNYC Enacts Severance Pay Requirements for Displaced Hotel Workers
Effective as of October 5, 2021, Int. 2397-2021 requires operators of “transient hotels” (as defined by Section 12-10 of the New York City zoning resolutions) to pay their employees severance pay if:...
View ArticleWhile Democrats Whittle Down Pro-Labor Provisions Of Social Spending Bill,...
As we discussed here, members of the House Education and Labor Committee have been attempting to end-run the procedural hurdles that have prevented the Protect the Right to Organize Act (“PRO Act”)...
View ArticleNLRB, DOL, and EEOC Announce Joint Initiative to Combat Worker Retaliation
Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), along with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), announced the creation of an interagency...
View ArticleBREAKING: NLRB General Counsel Issues Memo on Bargaining Obligations Under...
On November 10, 2021, General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memorandum outlining bargaining obligations under OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard to Protect Workers from Coronavirus (“ETS”)....
View ArticleBREAKING: The Department of Labor and The National Labor Relations Board...
On January 6, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that the two agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) detailing procedures on...
View ArticleNLRB General Counsel Announces Commitment to Inter-Agency Coordination
On February 7, 2022, the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment issued a report recommending, among other things, increased coordination among agencies working on labor and...
View ArticleNLRB GC Seeks Dramatic Change to Employer’s Right to Speak to Employees About...
For decades, employers had been free to gather employees to discuss – in a non-coercive manner – the employer’s views on unionization, and had been free to share with employees what employees’ rights...
View ArticleUnion Representation Petitions Increase by Astonishing 57% in the First Half...
On April 6, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) issued a press release recognizing the shockingly large surge in new union organizing. Specifically, during the first half...
View ArticleNLRB General Counsel Looks to Partner with the Federal Mediation and...
On April 27, 2022, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo released a memorandum to all NLRB field offices detailing and encouraging an extensive partnership with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation...
View ArticleGeneral Counsel Abruzzo Looks to Overturn Board Precedent Again: This Time,...
In an Advice Memorandum released on May 25, 2022, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo laid out a blueprint for changes she’d like made to Board precedent concerning union representatives’ access to...
View ArticleNLRB Releases Spring Rulemaking Agenda Forecasting Changes To Joint Employer...
On June 21, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) released its rulemaking agenda for Spring 2022, indicating the Board is considering revisions to two significant and tumultuous topics...
View ArticleNLRB Pursues 10(j) Injunction and Bargaining Order Against Starbucks Based on...
On June 21, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a press release indicating that the Regional Director of Region 3 requested injunctive relief from a United States District Court on...
View ArticleNLRB General Counsel Abruzzo Issues Memo on Employer Surveillance in the...
On October 31, 2022, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo (“GC Abruzzo”) issued a memorandum in which she pushed for zealous enforcement and Board adoption of a “new framework” to protect employees...
View ArticleJohnnie’s on the Spot; Board Reaffirms Standards for Employer Interrogations...
On the eve of the last day of Member Ring’s term, and in the third in a string of significant rulings by the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) (which we reported on here and here)—with...
View ArticleIt’s Up To You New York, New York; NLRB Reinstates Worker-Friendly Standard...
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) capped off an extremely busy week, by issuing another precedent-reversing decision, on the last day of Republican Member John Ring’s 5-year term....
View ArticleBoard Rescinds Four Provisions to 2019 Election Rule Following Federal...
Thursday, the NLRB issued a notice to rescind four provisions from the Board’s Rules and Regulations contained in its Final Rule published in December 2019 (the “2019 rule”). The Board’s notice...
View ArticleNo Limits: Non-Compete Agreements Next Up on NLRB General Counsel Chopping Block
Following the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) highly-controversial decision in McLaren Macomb declaring most confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in separation agreements to be...
View ArticleSupreme Court Decision Cements Employers’ Ability to Sue for Strike Destruction
In an 8-1 decision announced Thursday in Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters Local Union No. 174, U.S., No. 21-1449, 6/1/23, the Supreme Court ruled that an employer’s tort claims...
View ArticleThird Act: NLRB Reinstates Employee-Friendly Independent Contractor Analysis...
In a hotly-anticipated decision, The Atlanta Opera, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 95 (2023), the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) overturned the existing legal standard for determining whether a...
View ArticleHere We Go Again: Board Resurrects “Quickie” Election Rules
With over 58,000 workers reportedly unionizing so far in 2023 and the number of representation petitions on the rise, it comes as no surprise that the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the...
View ArticleNLRB Issues New Rule Relaxing Joint Employer Standard
In a much-anticipated rulemaking, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) has established a new standard for determining whether two employers are joint employers of particular employees...
View ArticleNew GC Memo Providing Guidance on Cemex Decision
As recently discussed, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a major decision this summer in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, 372 NLRB No. 130 (2023). The decision gave labor...
View ArticleLaunching into New Territory: SpaceX Claims NLRB Unconstitutionally Structured
Shortly after the New Year, on January 4, 2024, Space Exploration Technologies Corp.—or “SpaceX”—filed a complaint in the District Court for the Southern District of Texas alleging that an...
View ArticleUndergraduate Bargaining Units Are Here to Stay—and 20,000 Members Stronger
A growing trend of union organizing among undergraduate student workers reached a crescendo last week when a unit of 20,000 student assistants at California State University voted in favor of...
View ArticleNLRB GC Abruzzo Issues Guidance to Academic Institutions Addressing...
Earlier this week, the National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued Memorandum GC 24-06 seeking to clarify the obligations imposed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)...
View ArticleThe Show Can’t Go On: NLRB Denies Union Request for Review of Decision...
In a recent case involving the application of the Board’s standard for the employee status of graduate students, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) denied a request for review...
View ArticleSixth Circuit Sends Ohio State Graduate Student’s Employment Status Case...
On August 28, 2024, the Sixth Circuit in Huang v. Ohio State Univ., 6th Cir., No. 23-03469 (Aug. 28, 2024) –—in a case with broader implications for the employment status of graduate students—reversed...
View ArticleOn The Rise: Union Representation Petitions Increase by 27% Over the Last Year
On October 14, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) issued a press release confirming the continued increase in union organizing efforts......By:
View ArticleDéjà Vu All Over Again? NLRB Faces Partisan Overhaul Again with Key Legal...
For the third time in eight years, both the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) prosecutorial and adjudicative arms face a pending partisan overhaul after President-elect Trump’s inauguration on...
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