Posted on June 5, 2023 by Sara J. Ackermann
Blog
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)’s General Counsel publicly announced her position that most non-compete agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by chilling employees’ ability to exercise their rights to engage in protected activity. Remember, the NLRA applies to all private sector employees that are in non-supervisory positions. This means those […]
Posted on August 16, 2021 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
The newly-appointed General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Jennifer Abruzzo, has issued a memorandum to NLRB regional offices saying that she intends to “reexamine” positions taken by her predecessors and the Trump Era Board. During the Trump Administration, the NLRB overruled a number of legal precedents while taking a more employer-friendly stance. […]
Posted on June 21, 2018 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is continuing to expand on its newfound flexibility toward employee handbook rules. The NLRB’s General Counsel, Peter Robb, recently issued a memo defining in greater detail which types of handbook rules are acceptable and which will merit greater scrutiny. Significantly, the memo instructs NLRB regional offices that ambiguities in […]
Posted on January 12, 2018 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
Attorney Bob Reinertson wrote recently about a decision of the National Labor Relations Board that significantly changed how the NLRB will review workplace policies and employee handbooks to determine whether they are in compliance with federal law. The issue has always been that workplace policies (normally included in an employee handbook) may not interfere with […]
Posted on December 21, 2017 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
We have reported in blog articles and seminars in recent years on decisions by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that invalidated employee policies and handbook provisions which sought, among other things, to promote workplace civility and reasonable behavior. Last week the NLRB overturned the 2004 case that started that trend. In the 2004 case, […]
Posted on August 1, 2017 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) created controversy a couple of years ago when it ruled that handbook policies maintained by T-Mobile USA requiring employees to maintain a positive work environment were illegal because they could be seen as having a chilling effect on employees’ unionizing and collective bargaining rights. Last week, the U.S. 5th […]
Posted on October 24, 2016 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
Labor and employment practitioners will undoubtedly recall the NLRB’s well-publicized foray last year into the ongoing public debate surrounding whether certain college athletes should be considered compensated employees—Northwestern University, 362 NLRB No. 167 (Aug. 17, 2015). Through Northwestern University, the Board punted—but left open—the substantive issue of whether private university, grant-in-aid scholarship football players meet […]
Posted on July 13, 2016 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
Collegiality in the workplace is the goal of every employer in order to provide the proper atmosphere for productive employees. Many employers have taken this desire to heart by publishing rules that encourage collegiality amongst employees and prohibit conduct that would adversely affect morale in the workplace. A recent ruling by the National Labor Relations […]
Posted on June 29, 2016 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
Recent action by the National Labor Relations Board has challenged a long-standing labor precedent that may directly affect Wisconsin companies because of the implementation of the Wisconsin Right-to-Work Law. Because of the Right-to-Work Law, many companies with union representation of its employees are learning the employees no longer support the union and are withdrawing the […]
Posted on May 9, 2016 by Ruder Ware Alumni
Blog
Last week, an administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board concluded that Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino’s (“Rio”) employee handbook policy addressing “Use of Company Systems, Equipment, and Resources,” violated the National Labor Relations Act. The case is Ceasars Entertainment Corporation, No. 28-CA-060841. In Ceasars, the Board ALJ was called upon to review […]