Management Memo

Even further expanding the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) holdings in D.R. Horton and Murphy Oil limiting employer requirements concerning class action waivers, on June 26, 2015, an NLRB administrative law judge (“ALJ”) ruled that even a non-mandatory arbitration agreement that is voluntarily entered into by employees is unlawful if it requires employees to waive joint, class or collective actions in all forums, judicial and arbitral.

In November 2011, AT&T Mobility Services (“AT&T”) sent via email a Management Arbitration Agreement ...

In the footsteps of last month’s union election at Gawker, an electronic news site, it has now been reported that all 26 of the writers and editors of San Francisco-based at Salon, another on line news organization, have served the publication with a letter announcing that each of them has designated the News Guild, which until April of this year was known as the Newspaper Guild,  as their collective bargaining representative.

Lowell Peterson the union’s Executive Director commented that the unionization campaigns at Salon and Gawker and a part of the Guild’s broader efforts ...

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”), in its June 26, 2015, Decision and Order in American Baptist Homes of the West d/b/a Piedmont Gardens (PDF) has overruled what it described as a longstanding “blanket exemption” allowing employers to protect the confidentiality of witness statements taken during investigations and not provide them to a union in response to an information request. In place of the long standing body of law protecting the confidentiality of witness statements, which was established in recognition of the needs for ...

While we have been reminding readers of the fact that  the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) protects employees regardless of whether they are represented by a union and the Act applies to non-unionized workforces, too, recently  a National Labor Relations Board (the “NLRB”) Administrative Law Judge issued a decision following an unfair labor practice (“ULP”)  hearing based on a charge filed by a teacher at New York City’s prestigious Dalton School that should serve as an object lesson for employers in all non-union businesses.

The case, Dalton School, Inc.

Last week we reported on the June 3rd vote by Gawker media’s employees for union representation and speculated what it meant in the broader context of union organizing among Millennials.

Today, Rachel L. Swarns of the New York Times provided some insight based on interviews and reporting with Gawker workers.

The article notes a recent study by the Pew Research Center finding that those in the 18-29 age group view unions more favorably than those in other age groups, with almost twice as many having a favorable view of unions than those who don’t.

Swarns also points out the issues ...

On June 3, 2015 editorial employees at Gawker Media (“Gawker”) voted to be represented by the Writers Guild of America, East ("the Union”).  In this closely watched organizing drive, employees of a leading “new media” outlet, chose an old line print journalism union to bargain with their employer, becoming one of the first (if not the first) digital media outlets to unionize.  This follows on the heels of increased union organizing and pressure in the technology field and organized labor’s Silicon Valley Rising campaign. Interestingly, the election was not conducted by ...

One of two lawsuits challenging the National Labor Relations Board’s authority to issue the expedited election rules that took effect on April 14, 2015, has now been dismissed by Judge Robert L. Pitman of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin.  In his 27 page decision, Judge Pitman that the plaintiffs, including Associated Builders and Contractors of Texas and the National Federation of Independent Businessmen, could not establish that the NLRB’s December 14, 2014 rule “Representation – Case Procedures; Final Rule,” (the “New ...

A couple weeks ago we provided anecdotal reports from several NLRB Regional Directors that after one month the new Ambush Election Rules union elections were being held in considerably less time, with the Regional Directors claiming elections were being scheduled between 25-30 days.  Last week, according to BNA’s Daily Labor Report and Law360, the NLRB released national results of the first month showing that the impact was worse than anticipated.

More Union Petitions Under Ambush Elections Rule

Between April 14 (the day the rules when into effect) and May 14, 280 ...

As reported in Epstein Becker Green’s May 2015 Immigration Alert, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board” or “NLRB”) continues to focus on issues concerning the rights of undocumented workers whose rights under the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) are interfered with for engaging in union activity and other forms of protected, concerted activity covered by the Act.

In its March 27, 2015, Supplemental Decision in Mezenos Maven Bakery, Inc., 362 NLRB No. 41 (2015), the Board, in response to a remand from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second ...

May 14th marked the one-month anniversary of the effective date of the NLRB’s Amended Representation Election Rules (“amended rules”).  That day, the Regional Directors for NLRB Regions 2 (New York, NY), 22 (Newark, NJ), and 29 (Brooklyn, NY) discussed their offices’ experiences processing representation petitions filed since the amended rules took effect on April 14th.

With respect to the questions of how the amended rules are actually affecting representation petitions and elections, while one month may not be representative, the data to date does offer some ...