Wal-Mart Stores has filed an interesting and unusual lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking injunctive relief to stop various activities conducted by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and its subsidiary “OUR Wal-Mart” (Organization United for Respect at Wal-Mart) in connection with their long-running efforts to organize the giant retailer’s employees. The complaint alleges that on numerous occasions in 2012 and 2013 demonstrators acting on behalf of the UFCW entered various Wal-Mart stores in California and disrupted store ...
By: Evan Rosen and Adam C. Abrahms
Yesterday, in a 2-1 decision, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals became the second appellate court to issue a ruling that President Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) were constitutionally invalid because they did not occur during an “intersession recess” of the United States Senate. The case comes a few months after the D.C Circuit’s ruling in Noel Canning, which similarly held that the recess appointments were invalid. The Third Circuit and D.C. Circuit decisions, taken together, call ...
By Adam C. Abrahms and Steven M. Swirsky
In another major defeat for President Obama’s appointees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board), the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit found that the Board lacked the authority to issue a 2011 rule which would have required all employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”), including those whose employees are not unionized, to post a workplace notice to employees. The putative Notice, called a “Notification of Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act,” is intended to ostensibly ...
By Paul H. Burmeister and Eric J. Conn
On April 5, 2013, OSHA published a formal Interpretation Letter (dated February 21, 2013) addressing whether, pursuant to OSHA’s regulation at 29 C.F.R. 1903.8(c) (Representatives of Employers and Employees), employees at a worksite without a collective bargaining agreement may authorize a person affiliated with a union or community organization to act as the employees’ representative during proceedings under the OSH Act, including compliance inspections. OSHA responded affirmatively.
29 C.F.R. 1903.8(c) provides:
"The ...
Evan Rosen and Mark M. Trapp of the Labor and Employment practice co-wrote an article titled “What To Know About ACA Collective Bargaining”
Following is an excerpt:
For the unionized employer, the advent of the Affordable Care Act requires careful strategic thought about its impact on upcoming collective bargaining negotiations. Indeed, for companies with a unionized workforce, the ACA poses additional challenges and strategic considerations above and beyond those confronting nonunionized workforces.
In the past week media reports abound regarding a controversial allegedly "anti-union" statement made by a high level executive associated with the iconic snack cake Twinkies. As widely reported late last year, the original Twinkie maker, Hostess Brands, Inc., was forced to close, liquidate and lay off its entire unionized workforce, publicly blaming the recalcitrance of its unions for the company's downfall. However, these statements did not cause this most recent controversy. Rather, it was comments from an executive connected with Hostess Brands LLC, the newly formed ...
by: Steven M. Swirsky and D. Martin Stanberry
An NLRB Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) has found that two computer usage policies of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (“UPMC”) violated the National Labor Relations Act (“Act”) because they had an unreasonable tendency to chill employee activities, including union organizing and employee discussions about terms and conditions of employment, protected by Section 7 of the Act.
The policies at issue prohibited employees from using the employer’s email and other electronic messaging systems “in a way that ...
By: Jill Barbarino and Steven M. Swirsky
In a recent decision involving social media posts by non-union employees, as well as employer rules prohibiting the sharing of information about compensation among co-workers and with non-employees, the NLRB affirmed the findings and proposed remedy recommended by a Board Administrative Law Judge, holding that the Facebook posts of three employees of an upscale clothing boutique in San Francisco constituted protected activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act and the termination of the employees’ for the posts was an ...
By Steven M. Swirsky and D. Martin Stanberry
Will Congress shut down the National Labor Relations Board? In a narrow, 219 – 209 vote this past Friday, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill that would strip the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) of the authority to take any substantive action until the Supreme Court decides Noel Canning v. NLRB, 2013 WL 276024, (D.C. Cir. 2013) or the Senate confirms a quorum of members to the Board (as constituted, the Senate would have to confirm at least 2 new members to establish a quorum). As we reported, in Noel Caning
by: Adam C. Abrahms, James S. Frank, Kara M. Maciel, and Steven M. Swirsky
President Obama has taken action designed to bolster the National Labor Relations Board’s continuing move to bolster unions and take the National Labor Relations Act further into non-union workplaces. On April 9, 2013, President Obama announced his plan to submit three more nominees to serve the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”). If these and the two other pending nominations are confirmed this would bring the NLRB to its full complement of five Members.
These new nominations – who must be ...
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Recent Updates
- NLRB General Counsel Calls for Harsh Remedies for Employers Requiring Non-Competes, "Stay or Pay" Provisions
- NLRB Issues Complaint Alleging Business-to-Business No-Poaching Agreements Violate Employees’ Rights in Latest Attack on Restrictive Covenants
- Western District of Texas Says NLRB Structure Unconstitutional, Issues Injunction Preventing SpaceX Unfair Labor Practice Hearing from Proceeding
- Chevron Is Overturned, but Stakeholders Need Not Worry
- Video: SCOTUS Limits Availability of Injunctions in NLRB Unfair Labor Practice Cases - Employment Law This Week