In earlier posts on this blog you will find a handful of cases which consider the distinction between the fact of a protected whistle-blowing disclosure and the manner of it. Accepted wisdom, thanks in part to the unimprovable words of then Mr Justice Underhill in Martin -v-Devonshires Solicitors here is that an employer can in … Continue Reading
Despite what seems to be almost universal opposition to its proposals, the government has changed the law to allow employment businesses to supply temporary workers to cover for striking workers. Regulation 7 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 prohibits employment businesses from supplying temporary workers to cover (i) the duties … Continue Reading
Against the background of industrial unrest in other sectors, the social partners of Joint Committee 200 –the Committee representing the largest number of employees in the country, more than 480.000 in total – have quietly come to an agreement on employment and working conditions. The most important provisions of the agreement are summarized within this … Continue Reading
Here are answers to a handful of questions about the right to be accompanied which all came up at our webinar on grievances on 22 April. More to come this week. The right arises under section 10 Employment Relations Act 1996 – where the worker (not just an employee) is invited to a grievance hearing and “reasonably … Continue Reading
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has recently handed down a judgment which serves as a useful reminder for employers of the risks of taking disciplinary action against union representatives for behaviour which may look like misconduct but which actually constitutes union activity. By way of background, section 146(1)(b) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) … Continue Reading
The government in Spain has adopted two new Royal Decrees to address the gender wage gap and ensure the effectiveness of equality plans. These regulations implement two key employer obligations: (i) to guarantee equal pay for men and women, and; (ii) to draw up and register equality plans.… Continue Reading
An employee confronts you – a small business owner – and calls you a “f***ng mother f***cker,” a “f***ing crook,” an “a**hole,” and “stupid,” tells you that none of your employees like you and everyone talks about you behind your back, and warns you that you’ll regret firing him, if you do. Or you’re a … Continue Reading
Exploring the difference between why you do something and why it happens sounds like one of those abstract A-level Philosophy questions about whether you are a prince dreaming you are a butterfly or the other way around, but without the ability to ask whether anyone cares anyway. However, the question is also key to determining … Continue Reading
The Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Ensuring Integrity) Bill 2019 introduced to the House of Representatives on 4 July passed the House at the end of the month and is now before the Senate. The Bill forms part of the Government’s broader agenda on industrial relations reform to increase the regulation of unions in the … Continue Reading
Apparently, said the Court of Appeal, the unlawful retention and circulation of confidential material by a union representative “was not a sufficient departure from good industrial relations practice” to justify his dismissal, a conclusion which initially seems little short of perverse, let alone an alarming comment on the state of industrial relations in the UK’s … Continue Reading
Second year pro football quarterback and Northwestern University alum, Trevor Siemian is making headlines on the field this season for the Denver Broncos. His alma mater is making headlines off of it in the realm of labor law. Again. Last year, Northwestern’ s scholarship football players filed an action with the National Labor Relations Board … Continue Reading
One of the requirements which must be satisfied before a trade union can operate in France is that its constitution and its actions should “respect the values of the French Republic”. In Société Global Facility Services v. Snapmrasa, an employer argued that a trade union seeking recognition in its workplace could not validly appoint a … Continue Reading
The NLRB opened a busy February by overruling a rule it established in 1959 governing when captive audience meetings may be held for mail-ballot elections. For nearly 60 years, there was a divide in the way the NLRB handled captive audiences for mail-ballot elections and manual (in-person) elections. For mail-ballot elections, the NLRB followed the … Continue Reading
As MPs debate the Trade Union Bill (see our initial summary https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/uk-trade-unions-get-the-bill-for-transport-strikes/), the issue for employers is whether the Bill is political or practical and whether the tightening of the rules on picketing will actually backfire, resulting in unions using more unorthodox methods to achieve their objectives. The Bill has come in for a lot … Continue Reading
In a highly-anticipated decision, a divided National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) significantly expanded its definition of “joint employers.” The new standard portends to have substantial implications to employers across a broad spectrum, but most significantly in the franchisor-franchisee and temporary labor context. In Browning-Ferris Industries, three members of the five-member Board did away with the … Continue Reading
With the college football season about to get underway, on August 17, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its highly-anticipated decision involving Northwestern University’s scholarship football players’ attempt to unionize. As background, the National Labor Relations Act guarantees the right to organize and join labor unions. This right, however, applies only to employees employed … Continue Reading
With last year’s Supreme Court decision in Noel Canning only slightly in the rearview mirror, another court has ruled that the NLRB made yet another unlawful end-run around the laws that limit its authority to act. In a case involving an Arizona ambulance company, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled on … Continue Reading
Those of you following the controversial recent revisions to the National Labor Relations Board’s union election rules know that those rules went into effect in April of this year, over a Congressional disapproval resolution. (See our previous posts concerning the issuance and implementation of the rules here, here, and here.) These rule changes have been labeled … Continue Reading
Here is a short guide to the main provisions of the Trade Union Bill which went through its first reading in Parliament earlier this week. The Bill is either a malicious attack on the noble workers of Britain or a welcome redrawing of the boundaries around the disruption which striking can be allowed to cause, … Continue Reading
In two recent decisions out of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the court reversed the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board), finding that Board’s conclusion that the employers engaged in unfair labor practices in each case ignored simple realities, and instead restored the common sense balance between employees’ and employers’ rights with respect … Continue Reading
In a recent ruling [pdf] the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held that AT&T and affiliated telecommunications companies in California and Nevada can’t lawfully prohibit employees from wearing buttons and stickers containing phrases such as “WTF Where’s the Fairness” and “Cut the Crap” when such buttons or stickers are worn during union negotiations. Although employees generally … Continue Reading
There has been a long running battle in Australia about whether an employer, when testing for drug use, can ask employees to provide a urine sample. Many unions have resisted the introduction of urine testing, arguing that saliva testing is sufficient and, as such, the process of sampling urine is an unjustified invasion of privacy. … Continue Reading
The National Labor Relations Board’s Division of Advice has issued an advice memorandum finding that a restaurant franchisor is not liable as a joint employer for its franchisee’s alleged unfair labor practices, either under the NLRB’s current standard, or the new standard proposed by the General Counsel in Browning-Ferris Industries. The NLRB’s current joint employer … Continue Reading
As if mid-April’s tax filing deadline wasn’t already enough of a downer, the NLRB has given employers the dreaded one-two punch, as its new union “ambush” election rules have now officially gone into effect. Although hailed by the Democrat members of the NLRB who championed them as modest changes intended to streamline the process of … Continue Reading
