A landmark law giving drivers of app-based transportation companies, such as Uber and Lyft, the right to collectively bargain is not preempted by the National Labor Relations Act, a three-member panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. City of Seattle, No. 17-35640 (9th Cir. May 11, 2018).
Jackson Lewis P.C.
Labor Board Considers Joint Employer Standard Rulemaking
The National Labor Relations Board has begun the process to consider rulemaking to establish a standard for determining joint employer status under the National Labor Relations Act, according to the Board’s filing in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.
The current standard is set forth in Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No.…
Changes
The song “Changes,” written by Phil Ochs, provides an opportune prism to examine the arguably cataclysmic changes implemented and portended by the new employer-friendly majority at the NLRB at the end of 2017 and expected in 2018.
Sing along, enjoy the lilt.
Don’t cry o’er case law that’s spilt.
Come sit by my…
NLRB Vacates Hy-Brand Joint Employer Decision Following Inspector General Report
In a surprising reversal, the NLRB on February 26, 2018, vacated its decision in Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors, Ltd., 365 NLRB No. 156 (2017), and restored the Board’s union-friendly joint employer test set forth in Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No. 186 (2015) which Hy-Brand had overruled.
The Board’s latest reversal came about as a result…
NLRB Solicits Briefs on Independent Contractor Misclassification as ULP Issue
National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge Arthur J. Amchan had ruled in Velox Express, Inc. that misclassification of employees as independent contractors violates Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act. 2017 NLRB LEXIS 486 (Sept. 25, 2017). Now the case is before the NLRB, and the Board has invited interested parties to…
NLRB Joint Employer Decision at Risk?
The Board overturned Browning-Ferris Industries, 362 NLRB No. 186 (2015), in Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors, Ltd., 365 NLRB No. 156 (Dec. 14, 2017), and returned to the more employer-friendly principles governing joint-employer status that existed prior to that decision. Now, however, the five individual Charging Parties in Hy-Brand have filed with the Board a Motion…
Kentucky’s Right-to-Work Law Survives Challenge
Kentucky’s right-to-work law has survived a challenge by the AFL-CIO and Teamsters union. The Kentucky legislation passed in the first week of the 2017 legislative session, making the Bluegrass State the 27th to adopt right-to-work legislation (Missouri was the 28th).
A Kentucky state court dismissed the unions’ challenge to the law, which prohibits…
Missouri to Vote on State’s Right-to-Work Law
When Missouri Republican Governor Eric Greitens signed “right-to-work” legislation into law on February 6, 2017, the Show-Me State was on the way to becoming the 28th state to prohibit unions and employers from requiring any employee to be a union member, or pay any dues or like amounts, as a condition of continued employment. …
Management-Side Attorney John Ring Selected for Seat on Labor Board
President Donald Trump has nominated John Ring, a Washington, D.C.-based management-side labor and employment lawyer, to fill the vacant seat on the five-member National Labor Relations Board. If confirmed, Ring would replace former-NLRB Chairman Philip Miscimarra, a Republican, and restore a 3-2 Republican majority to the Board. Miscimarra’s term ended on December 16, 2017.
Currently, …
Senate Committee Approves Trump’s NLRB General Counsel Nominee
A critical National Labor Relations Board nomination was approved by the Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on October 18, 2017, according to Bloomberg BNA. Management-side labor attorney Peter Robb’s nomination to be the Board’s next General Counsel has been long-anticipated by those interested in seeing changes in the agency’s doctrinal jurisprudence. The…