Management Memo

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) has issued its long-anticipated  decision in Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No. 186 (pdf), establishing a new test for determining joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or the “Act”).  Because this revised standard will resonate with businesses relying on contractors and staffing firms throughout the economy and across industry lines, employers should be wary of its potential impact upon relationships with service providers that are supportive of, or critical to ...

As the 40th anniversary of the landmark Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is noted, an article by Allen B. Roberts featured in the Winter 2014 Benefits Law Journal observes that participating employees and contributing employers – as the primary stakeholders in the fortunes of multiemployer defined benefit pension plans – may not be among the celebrants. Employees who should benefit from retirement contributions and the employers who fund the payments are encountering a world different from that anticipated with the passage of ERISA. Increasingly, employers ...

Our colleague Allen B. Roberts recently wrote a client advisory entitled “Unions Swim Against the Tide as Pension Issues Surface for Negotiations and Organizing,” which appears on Epstein Becker Green's website.

Following is an excerpt:

Contributions to multiemployer defined benefit pension plans have been a mainstay, legacy feature of union negotiations in many industries. But the fabric of such staples may be tearing apart as employers contemplate the potential of escalating contributions to amortize unfunded liabilities that increase costs but may have ...