A divided National Labor Relations Board has overturned its 30-year-old rule that an employer may withdraw recognition, even without a showing of a loss of majority status, from a voluntarily-recognized union that represents both guards and non-guards (“mixed-guard union”) with respect to a unit of guards.
Adopting a new rule proposed by the NLRB General…
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in New Orleans, is the latest circuit court to uphold the National Labor Relations Board’s restrictive “micro-unit” approach to voting units in NLRB elections adopted in Specialty Healthcare, 357 NLRB No. 83 (2011). Macy’s Inc. v. NLRB, No. 15-60022 (5th Cir. June 2, 2016).
In Specialty…
National Labor Relation Board General Counsel Richard F. Griffin has issued a Memorandum to NLRB Regional Directors, Officers-in-Charge, and Resident Officers proposing a dramatic change in Board law on whether, and under what circumstances, an employer may unilaterally withdraw recognition from a union representing its employees. Memorandum GC 16-03 (May 9, 2016). If adopted by…
The “Protecting Georgia Small Businesses Act” amends Georgia’s Labor and Industrial Relations Code to provide that neither a franchisee nor a franchisee’s employee is considered an employee of a franchisor for “any purpose.” However, the amendment does not apply to Georgia Workers’ Compensation Code. The Act goes into effect on January 1, 2017.
The Georgia…
The National Labor Relations Board did not err in holding a sandwich store chain violated the National Labor Relations Act by disciplining and terminating employees for placing posters on community bulletin boards in the public areas of several of its locations suggesting the chain required sick employees to come to work and make sandwiches, the…
A petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board by Armonk, New York-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1430, seeking an election to represent a unit of 600 “full-time and regular part-time taxicab drivers employed by Uber working from the Laguardia [sic] airport” has sparked infighting at the AFL-CIO, the IBEW’s parent organization.
The…
Citing the threat of future insolvency, a New Jersey Teamsters Local Pension Fund has applied to the U.S. Treasury Department for permission to reduce by 40 percent the vested member benefits in the Fund.
The Fund’s application is the third pension fund reduction application filed by unions in recent months. The Teamsters Local 469 Pension…
The United States Supreme Court appears headed toward outlawing “agency-shop” or “fair share” provisions in public sector collective bargaining agreements, requiring non-members to pay union fees, sometimes reluctantly, in lieu of dues. Frederichs v. Cal. Teachers Ass’n, No. 14-915, argued Jan. 11, 2016.
The Supreme Court held in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education…
Las Vegas, Nevada-based Laborers Local 872 did not violate the National Labor Relations Act by displaying four-foot high banners and inflatable animals 18 to 20 feet high around the perimeter of a casino and resort complex (Westgate), and partially blocking cars and patrons, because Westgate contracted with a non-union contractor (Nigro) to perform renovation work…
Vacating a Board order adopting an Administrative Law Judge’s decision holding that an employer violated Sections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the National Labor Relations Act by ceasing to pay longevity pay under a collective bargaining agreement between the employer and the union representing its employees, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has…
