Last week workers across the United States participated in a national protest aimed at President Trump’s immigration policies. Organized by advocacy groups and promoted largely through social media, “A Day Without Immigrants” involved an organized effort to urge workers to stay home in protest of the new administration’s immigration policies and actions, including recent enforcement
SCOTUS Nominee Gorsuch Likely to Carry On Scalia Tradition
President Donald Trump has nominated Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia nearly one year ago. Known for his classical constructionist approach, Gorsuch is expected to restore the ideological balance that existed before Justice Scalia’s passing, with four conservatives,
Recent SEC Case Highlights Government Scrutiny of Severance Agreements
On August 10, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a cease and desist order against BlueLinx Holdings, Inc. that further demonstrates the scrutiny of various federal agencies with respect to severance agreements.
In BlueLinx, the SEC found a provision in a severance agreement that restricted employees from providing information to the SEC without company
New NLRB Decision Significantly Restricts Employers’ Ability to Make Unilateral Workplace Changes
Employers in union settings know that they generally cannot make changes to their employees’ wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment without first negotiating to impasse with the union. The exception to this rule has historically been that the employers could make changes, as long as they could show that their labor contract
Why to Abstain from the 2016 Presidential Election (At Least in the Workplace), Part I
Although the Republican National Convention is now behind us in Cleveland, we still have several months of campaigning to endure prior to the presidential election. During this time of year, the issue of expressing political beliefs in the workplace is especially poignant.
In the midst of all of this political activity, employers may ask—how much
NLRB Facilitates Joint Unionization Between Temporary and Permanent Employees
In a win for organized labor, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) reinstated a union-friendly standard under which both temporary and permanent employees may collectively bargain as a single unit without employer consent. On July 11, 2016, the NLRB’s 3-1 decision in Miller & Anderson, Inc., 364 NLRB No. 39 (2016), made it easier
NLRB Finalizes Rules on “Quickie” Elections
On December 15, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) published its Final Rule governing union elections. The new rule, which will become effective on April 14, 2015, ushers in significant changes to the manner in which the Board handles elections. The Board had attempted to make changes to union election rules in December 2011,
Employees Presumed to Have Right to Use Company Email for Protected Activities During Nonworking Time
Does your company provide email access to its employees? Are there restrictions on how and when email may be used? These issues are addressed in the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) December 11, 2014 decision in Purple Communications, Inc., which affects both non-union and union employers. In Purple Communications, the NLRB reversed its
NLRB Continues to Endorse Micro-Units
Unions, in order to increase membership, are now attempting in some cases to represent employees in small “micro-units” as opposed to the traditional approach of representing employees throughout an employer’s facility. Micro-units come into existence when unions “pick off” employees in certain departments, and claim that these departments should be a bargaining unit apart from
NLRB Creates Duty To Respond To Requests For Irrelevant Information
even if the information requested turns out to be irrelevant, the employer has a duty to respond in a timely fashion on pain of violating its duty to bargain in good faith
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