On December 3, Region 20 of the National Labor Relations Board issued a sweeping, consolidated complaint alleging that Whole Foods Market, Inc. violated federal labor law by maintaining and enforcing rules regarding workplace attire that prohibited employees from wearing Black Lives Matter messaging at work. The complaint marks the latest broadside from the new General
The John Deere Co. Strike – Sign of the Times?
In case you missed it, a major battle between labor and management is playing out in the heartland. On October 14, over 10,000 UAW-represented workers at John Deere Co. plants in Iowa, Illinois and elsewhere walked out following the expiration of their collective bargaining agreement.
In a recent guidance memorandum, Jennifer Abruzzo, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, has announced her intention to consider college athletes as employees under federal labor law. The implications of this memo are far-ranging and include the possibility of union representation of college athletes and unfair labor practice charges against universities
In his first few days on the job, Acting General Counsel of the NLRB Peter Sung Ohr has withdrawn a complaint that had challenged the use of a neutrality agreement by an employer and union. This early move by the Acting GC indicates the direction that he will take in attempting to change the course
The NLRB’s General Counsel recently issued a memo that demonstrates his hostility toward neutrality agreements. Generally, neutrality agreements contain a promise from an employer that it will remain neutral in a union organizing campaign. These agreements often contain other provisions, such as allowing unions access to employer property to address employees and providing unions with
In an early May 2020 decision, the Board declared a temporary pause in charged parties (usually an employer) complying with the NLRB’s standard notice posting remedy in response to the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis. Thereafter, on May 20, 2020, General Counsel Peter B. Robb issued GC Memo 20-06 and made this temporary change
On June 17, 2020, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Peter Robb issued GC Memo 20-08 (“Memo”), providing Regional offices new directives for taking certain witness testimony and accepting audio/video recording evidence in unfair labor practice (“ULP”) investigations.
First, the Memo instructs Regions allow a charged party – in most cases an employer – to
On April 29, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a National Labor Relations Board decision where an employer was lawfully permitted to refuse a union’s request for financial information because it appropriately clarified its previous “inability to pay” statements and explained that it was only unwilling, not unable, to meet the union’s wage
Employers have been privileged to withdraw recognition of a union when presented with objective evidence that the union has lost majority support of employees, but have faced significant legal risks in doing so under NLRB precedent. Some of this legal risk has been mitigated by the NLRB’s decision in Johnson Controls, Inc., 368 NLRB No.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the NLRB has delayed its roll out of amendments to the “quickie” election rules, which we discussed in a previous post. Instead of becoming effective on April 16, 2020, the rule changes will now be effective on May 30, 2020. The scope of the crisis caused by the coronavirus