Earlier this decade, hardly a week passed without some court or agency interpreting the joint employment doctrine more expansively than before. Although the National Labor Relations Board created many of these headlines by attempting to treat McDonald’s as the joint employer of its franchisees’ employees and expanding its joint employment test, many courts and other … Continue Reading
By Wm. Michael Hanna, and Emily R. Spivack. On June 27, 2018, the United States Supreme Court decided in a 5-4 decision that public sector unions may no longer collect so-called “fair share” fees from non-members. The decision will have broad implications for public sector unions and employers. Fair share fees are charged to individuals … Continue Reading
On May 9, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board announced an interesting development regarding two key ongoing issues, i.e., the Board’s joint-employer standard and the alleged conflicts of interest of Member William Emanuel. This announcement also sheds light on how the Board may change other areas of federal labor law in the future.… Continue Reading
The National Labor Relations Board experienced a setback on Monday, just two months after it overturned its predecessors’ employee-friendly test for determining when entities constitute joint employers. These developments create some uncertainty and, at a minimum, delay the Board from implementing the new test it created last December.… Continue Reading
NLRB walks back Specialty Healthcare decision, eliminates “overwhelming community of interest” standard in deciding employer challenges to union-proposed bargaining units On December 15, 2017, in a 3-2 ruling in PCC Structurals, Inc., the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) overruled its controversial 2011 decision in Specialty Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center of Mobile (“Specialty Healthcare”). … Continue Reading
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) issued two groundbreaking decisions on December 14, which will give both union and non-union employers significantly more flexibility to manage their operations. Earlier this week, the Board also signaled that it will revise the “quickie” election rules implemented in 2015 in the near future. These developments will … Continue Reading
On December 1, the newly sworn-in General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) Peter J. Robb issued an internal NLRB memorandum (which was subsequently released to the public) that does more than just hint at changes to come in Board policy on many of the hot button issues that have been … Continue Reading
On September 28, 2017, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the so-called “fair share” fees public employee unions collect from non-members. The justices agreed to hear a case brought by non-union government employees in Illinois that targets fees that their state and many others compel such workers to pay to unions … Continue Reading
Last week, Japanese newspapers reported that a national medical research center in the suburbs of Osaka had entered into a so-called “36 agreement” with its doctors and nurses in 2012, allowing these employees to work up to 300 hours of overtime per month and up to 2,070 hours of overtime per year. (To be clear, … Continue Reading
One of the long-standing rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) is for union-represented employees to be accompanied by a union representative at workplace investigatory interviews that the employee reasonably believes may result in disciplinary action. These rights are referred to as “Weingarten” rights after the case, NLRB v. Weingarten, Inc., in which the … Continue Reading
On June 19, we predicted that the Trump administration was expected to formally announce attorneys Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel as candidates to fill the two vacant slots on the National Labor Relations Board. As predicted, President Trump did, in fact, nominate Messrs. Kaplan and Emanuel to the Board earlier this summer. The nominations went … Continue Reading
In a closely-watched case, on July 3, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit refused to enforce a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) decision in which the Board found MikLin Enterprises, Inc. (“MikLin”), owner of 10 Jimmy John’s franchises in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area, violated the National Labor Relations Act … Continue Reading
Updating our June 19 post, as expected, President Trump nominated Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel to fill the two currently-vacant seats on the National Labor Relations Board. A hearing on their nominations is now scheduled for July 13 before the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee. If recommended by the HELP committee, the nominees … Continue Reading
On February 6, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens signed into law SB 19, making Missouri the 28th state to adopt right-to-work legislation. The law goes into effect on August 28, 2017, and provides that no employee may be required as a condition of employment or continued employment to become a member of a union or to … Continue Reading
It’s been a busy summer for the National Labor Relations Board. After issuing important decisions expanding the reach of the National Labor Relations Act to allow university graduate assistants and temporary workers to seek to join unions, as well as decisions expanding back pay awards and limiting employers’ ability to replace striking staff, on August … Continue Reading
