In keeping with its clear pro-union agenda, late last year, the NLRB overruled its past precedent and held that employers who grant employees access to their email systems must now allow them to use the email system for Section 7 activity during nonworking time. Under the NLRA, Section 7-protected activity could include such things as
Top 10 Things for California Employers to Do in 2015
Every employer in California needs legal help at some point. The laws are too complex and the penalties too severe for employers to figure it all out on their own. Even the courts and government agencies can’t decide what some of these laws mean.
So the only
NLRB Alters Post-Arbitral Deferral Standards
On December 15, 2014, in a split decision along party lines, the National Labor Relations Board (“the Board”) in Babcock & Wilcox Construction Co., Inc., overruled 30 year-old precedent that will needlessly undermine the utility and finality of arbitrations that concerned allegations of retaliation, interference and coercion with employees Section 7 rights. The Board did
NLRB Finalizes "Quickie Election" Rules
We’ve been expressing concern about the National Labor Relations Board’s efforts to implement “quickie election” rules for over a year. Well, the rules are now in place and they’re part of a double-whammy for employers. First, the NLRB reversed course to decide that unions
Union Agenda Behind Minimum Wage Increase for Los Angeles Hotels
The Los Angeles City Council voted last week to raise the minimum wage for Los Angeles area hotels to $15.37 per hour. The minimum wage will increase for hotels with 300 or more rooms in July 2015, and for hotels with 150 or more rooms in July 2016.
Of note, this minimum wage increase was
NLRB Increases Employers' Burdens in Responding to Frivolous Information Requests
If you have unionized workers, you know that a union gets to request information that may be relevant to it its functions. This includes information potentially relevant in deciding to grieve a matter or to assisting with bargaining. Employers must respond to these requests in a timely fashion, even if they think the request is
Plaintiffs, Unions and the NLRB Stretch to Find Joint Employers
In the quest to expand liability for real and imagined violations of employment laws, and to find more and deeper pockets, the latest target for plaintiffs’ lawyers and unions is the “joint employer.” The joint employment concept is a decades-old doctrine that applies where two companies are so intertwined and jointly involved with the
9 Key NLRB Decisions Invalidated by the Supreme Court's Noel Canning Decision
When the Supreme Court decided National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning on June 26, 2014, it invalidated the cases that the NLRB decided between January 4, 2012 and August 3, 2013. Here are some of the key cases affected by this opinion:
- Costco Wholesale Co. – Here the Board held unlawful an employer’s handbook
In Praise of England's 1842 Mines Act
I spend a lot of time on this blog railing against heavy-handed government enforcement and laws intended to benefit employees that actually drive jobs away. So I want to go on record as a supporter of the 1842 Mines Act. Among other things, this law prohibited boys and girls under age 10 from
Why Would College Athletes Want To Be Union Anyway?
What’s missing from the rash of news reports and blog posts about the NLRB’s ruling allowing scholarship football players at Northwestern to vote on whether to join a union is an explanation of why the athletes want a union.
When we train employers on how to stay non-union, we focus on two things: fair compensation