The NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe E. Solomon has issued a Memorandum (OM 11-74) to Board regional officials, dated August 18, 2011, describing his Office’s actions involving social media cases in the past year. Solomon explains: "Recent developments in the Office of the General Counsel have presented emerging issues concerning the protected and/or concerted nature
Counsel
NLRB General Counsel Remains Focused on Social Media
The National Labor Relations Board’s prosecutor, its General Counsel, continues to show an avid interest in social media as a medium for complaints against employers. (The Board itself is an active participant in social media, with a Facebook page, a YouTube channel and a Twitter feed.)
On April 12, 2011, the NLRB General Counsel instructed…
NLRB Acting General Counsel Focuses on Board Arbitration Deferral
Under its current arbitration deferral policy, the National Labor Relations Board, to encourage collectively bargained dispute resolution, would defer a final determination in certain unfair labor practice (“ULP”) charges when the grievance can be processed through the parties’ grievance or arbitration provisions under their collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”). The Board’s Acting General Counsel has urged…
NLRB Threatens Litigation against States Requiring Secret Ballot Vote in Union Organizing
The National Labor Relations Board’s union-boosting has taken a new and troubling turn…repudiating the will of voters who would make unions show by secret ballot that they really represent employees.
The NLRB has threatened four states, whose voters passed initiatives last year barring employers from recognizing unions except following a secret ballot election, with lawsuits…
New NLRB General Counsel Nips at Employers’ Heels Without EFCA
Having argued for the need to address through federal court injunctions alleged employer misconduct that can “nip union organizing conduct in the bud” (see NLRB to Weigh Injunctions Routinely for Unlawful Discharges in Organizing Campaigns, Plans Acting GC) — in particular, firing employee organizers and activists — the General Counsel now wants to…
Changing the NLRA to a Punitive Statute – Without EFCA
Adding to the troubles employers are beginning to face with the new National Labor Relations Board is a report that the agency’s General Counsel (GC) has some new ideas to ratchet up employers’ costs of litigation, and even settlement. The GC, the Board’s chief prosecutor, professes fears that victims of alleged discrimination on account of…