In this podcast episode, Ashley Cano, Partner in the Labor and Employment department of Seyfarth’s Chicago office, and John Phillips, Senior Associate in the firm’s Houston office, discuss the National Labor Relations Board’s changing view of the scope of protected concerted activity.
With a new Acting General Counsel in charge at the
By: Jennifer L. Mora and Jeffrey A. Berman
As the National Labor Relations Board transitions from a Republican-majority to a Democrat-majority, the Board’s sole Democrat, Chairman McFerran, continues to provide a window into what the future is likely to look like under a Biden Board. This blog is another in a multi-part series discussing how
By Jennifer L. Mora and Jeffrey A. Berman
Seyfarth Synopsis: When a new President is about to shift the balance of power at the National Labor Relations Board, a Board dissent can foreshadow how the newly constituted Board will consider a similar issue. Such is the case in Stericycle, Inc., a February 17, 2021
By: Jennifer L. Mora
On January 25, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board’s Division of Advice released an Advice Memo on the issue of whether certain cannabis workers were exempt from the National Labor Relations Act as agricultural workers. The Advice Memo noted at the outset that the “Board has not ruled on whether employees
With the new Biden Administration and Democrats now controlling Congress, employers can expect President Biden to move as quickly as possible to appoint Democratic Members to the NLRB. Currently, the Board has three Republican members, one Democratic member, and one vacancy. President Biden is well positioned to flip the majority composition of the Board by
By: Ashley K. Cano and John P. Phillips
Seyfarth Synopsis: Last week, the NLRB held in a 2-1 decision that an employer’s rules restricting certain types of employee communications on social media were lawful under the NLRA. However, the Board panel was sharply divided between its Republican majority and Lauren McFerran, its sole Democratic member.
Authors: Glenn J. Smith and Matthew A. Sloan
On April 1, 2020, after a temporary suspension of elections, the National Labor Relations Board announced that the processing of NLRB-conducted elections would resume again. Since about then, an unprecedented 90% of representation elections conducted have been ordered by Regional directors to be conducted by mail due
By: Jason J. Silver and Glenn J. Smith
Seyfarth Synopsis: As the COVID-19 virus continues to surge throughout parts of the United States, the General Counsel’s office of the NLRB has issued certain “suggested” safety protocols to allow Regions to conduct manual elections in this unprecedented environment. The suggested safety protocols are likely to receive
By: Jennifer L. Mora
Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 23, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board reversed precedent and held in Care One at New Milford, 369 NLRB No. 109 (2020), that during negotiations for a first collective bargaining agreement, employers do not have a duty to bargain with a union over discipline for
Portions of the NLRB’s expansive new representation election rules–scheduled to go into effect on May 31, 2020 following a COVID-19 related delay–were struck down by court order one day prior to becoming effective. On May 30, 2020, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that