By Nelson Cary and Alex Ehler on Posted in Nominations & AppointmentsIf even a day can make a significant difference, a month can make much more. On February 17, 2021, President Biden nominated Jennifer Abruzzo to serve as the next General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The Biden Presidency has thus far brought unanticipated upheavals to the NLRB. As this blog previously discussed,… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Alex Ehler on Posted in NLRB,UnionsActing General Counsel Peter Sung Ohr has wasted no time in reversing course at the NLRB’s General Counsel office. Yesterday, less than two weeks after President Biden’s unprecedented removal of the NLRB’s GC, AGC Ohr issued a memorandum (GC 21-02) to the NLRB’s regional offices. The memorandum rescinds several general counsel memoranda issued by former… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBWhat a difference a day can make. On the first day of the Biden administration, the President gave the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board until 5 p.m. to resign or be fired. GC Peter Robb (R) declined to do so. (Here is a link to the GC’s short letter to the White… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Amanda Kuehner on Posted in Employee Discipline,Negotiations,NLRBThis blog previously discussed the NLRB’s dismissal of virus-related charges. The NLRB General Counsel, however, recently released a new memorandum summarizing cases related to Covid-19 where the NLRB found the virus-related issues had merit and pursued litigation. Because the cases are still in active litigation, the memo merely summarizes the facts of the cases. It… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Amanda Kuehner on Posted in Employee Discipline,Negotiations,NLRBIn a positive series of events for employers, the General Counsel’s Division of Advice called for the dismissal of five different coronavirus-related charges against employers. The GC’s office sent memos to regional NLRB offices directing them to dismiss specific cases, all of which were labor disputes sparked by the pandemic. All charges were either dismissed… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in ElectionsAfter the COVID-19 pandemic caused a temporary suspension of both in-person and mail ballot labor union elections, the NLRB permitted elections to resume in early April. On Tuesday, July 6, the General Counsel issued guidance addressing suggested safety protocols for conducting manual elections. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, the General Counsel acknowledged the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Lauren Sanders on Posted in Negotiations,NLRBWith COVID-19 disrupting business, employers may be questioning whether the virus has an effect on the duty to bargain with labor organizations. On Friday, the NLRB’s General Counsel, Peter B. Robb, attempted to answer these questions, issuing a letter to regional officials clarifying employers’ duty to bargain during emergencies. The General Counsel’s letter summarized nine… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Independent Contractors,NLRBLast month, the NLRB General Counsel issued an advice memorandum concluding that Uber drivers are independent contractors. The GC applied the recent NLRB decision in Super Shuttle, which clarified the test applied under the NLRA to determine “employee” status. In the process, it overturned an Obama Board precedent that the NLRB majority held was incorrectly… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Lauren Sanders on Posted in NLRBJust a few months after the NLRB became majority Republican, there are early signs that the agency may be taking a new direction in 2018. Peter Robb, the NLRB’s new General Counsel, sent a memorandum to all Regional Directors, Officers-in-Charge, and Resident Officers in early December. In his memorandum, which followed a practice that prior General… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Jesse Meade on Posted in NLRBThe Senate confirmed the appointment of Peter Robb as NLRB General Counsel on November 8, 2017, by a final vote of 49-46. Robb will take over as the chief enforcer for the NLRB, and represents a dramatic departure from his predecessor Richard Griffin, who pursued a number of cases that changed NLRB law in ways… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary, Monica Fitzgerald and Mike Griffaton on Posted in NLRBHeard about “A Day Without a Woman”? Did your business feel any impacts of “A Day Without Immigrants”? Not sure how, as a labor professional, you should respond to these developments? Then you should check out this Labor and Employment Alert that we posted yesterday on our Firm’s website. In the Alert, we discuss the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in Elections,NLRB,Union NegotiationsEarlier this year, the NLRB’s GC, who is responsible for enforcing the NLRA, continued his annual practice of attending the Mid-Winter Meeting of the Practice and Procedure Committee of the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section. The GC answered questions the committee had collected from labor law practitioners around the country. A few weeks ago,… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary and Greg Scheiderer on Posted in Elections,NLRB,RulemakingEarlier this week, Region 8 of the NLRB held a training session in Cleveland, Ohio, on the upcoming changes to the procedures for representation cases that will go into effect on April 14, 2015. This training session was one of more than 35 sessions the NLRB is hosting for practitioners across the country. Additionally, NLRB… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in UnionsMergers and acquisitions involving unionized companies present a number of potential labor law challenges for the buyer. Primarily, these challenges arise from the well-established rules applicable to "successor" employers. A "successor" is a company that purchases the stock or, in certain cases, the assets of a unionized company. If the buyer is a successor employer under the… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBBy Nelson Cary and Brad Gibson The UFCW union has tilted at the Wal-Mart windmill for many years now, employing various tactics to get Wal-Mart employees interested in unions and union activity. One tactic that has been used is mass demonstrations, including picketing. It was the use of a demonstration against Wal-Mart that recently led the NLRB’s… Continue Reading
By Nelson Cary on Posted in NLRBEarlier today, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm the nomination of Richard F. Griffin, Jr. as General Counsel of the NLRB. The General Counsel is responsible for the enforcement of the NLRA and supervises the regional offices of the NLRB in the investigation of unfair labor practice complaints and the conduct of union representation elections. Mr.… Continue Reading
