n a sweeping victory for labor unions, Missouri voters overwhelmingly rejected a right-to-work law which sought to ban unions from requiring union fees as a condition of employment in Missouri. By capturing 67% of Tuesday’s vote, opponents of the measure…
Labor Relations
A Look at How Brett Kavanaugh Could Shape Employment Law
Respect to the employment law bloggers, reporters, and others who have been trying to read the tea leaves to predict what Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s record as a jurist would foreshadow should he ascend to the U.S. Supreme Court. Discrimination claims…
Court Says Government Workers Can’t Be Forced to Pay Unions
There’s much hand-wringing and hand clapping today over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that government workers can’t be forced to contribute to unions. In a 5-4 vote, the Court’s conservative majority ruled that laws requiring teachers, firefighters, police and other…
9 Ways the NLRB Is Making It Easier to Revise Your Handbook
If you’re new to the field, you’ll have to take our word on it, but HR-compliance professionals know that drafting a 100% compliant employee handbook got a lot tougher over the past several years. Let’s forget about paid-sick-leave laws, ban-the-box, and…
NLRB Issues New Guidance on How It Will Interpret Handbook Rules
Last week, NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb issued a lengthy 20-page memorandum (GC 18-04) providing detailed guidance regarding enforcement of “Handbook Rules Post-Boeing.” In The Boeing Co., 365 NLRB No. 154 (Dec. 14, 2017), the Board established a new standard governing…
NLRB Says It Will Craft a New Joint-Employer Rule
Editor’s note: In December, on a 3-2 vote the NLRB overturned an earlier decision setting a new standard for when two organizations will be found to be joint employers for the purposes of being held jointly liable for actions taken…
NLRB Throws Out Joint Employer Liability Decision, Leaving Browning-Ferris as the Rule
December’s joint employer decision by the NLRB which overturned an earlier case expanding joint employer liability was vacated today after an opinion by the inspector general that there was a conflict of interest. What this means is that the Board’s…
Roundup of Last Week’s NLRB Precedent Shattering Decisions
According to the NLRB website, the Board is “an independent federal agency vested with the power to safeguard employees’ rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative. The agency also acts to prevent and remedy…
NLRB Overturns Rules On Joint Employer and Neutral Policies
On 3-2 votes, the NLRB Republican majority today overturned two precedent setting cases. One involved the standard it adopted just two years ago to determine joint employer status. The second set aside a 13 year-old standard governing whether facially neutral…
HR In a Union Shop: Here’s What Your Supervisors Need to Know
The job of supervising employees in a unionized environment has its own unique set of rules and challenges. HR professionals need to provide supervisors with the knowledge and tools necessary to succeed in this special framework. This applies to both…
If You Hire In California, You Need to Know About These New Background Screening Rules
Several common background check practices became illegal in California last month. Recent additions to the state’s Fair Employment and Housing Act address how employers use criminal histories in employment decisions. A laudable goal – reducing employment barriers for people with criminal…
If You Do Background Checks, Here’s What You Need to Know to Avoid a Lawsuit
“Double, double toil and trouble…” Although Shakespeare surely had something else in mind, it’s easy to see how these words could conjure images of compliance woes. The double compliance trouble you’re facing springs from two well-intentioned provisions that, nevertheless, complicate…
What Happens Online Can Get You In Trouble
Before social media, harassment, sexual or otherwise, was pretty much confined to office hours. Now, work and personal life have become so entangled that what happens at work no longer stays at work. “Our employees are connected 24/7,” says Jeffrey Miller,…
NLRB Nominees Expected to Change Board’s Direction
On Tuesday, President Trump nominated labor attorney William J. Emanuel to fill one of two vacancies to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Last week, he nominated Marvin E. Kaplan to fill the other vacancy. Currently, the Board is comprised…
Why You Need an Employee Handbook and What It Should Cover
A staff handbook (also known as a Policies and Procedures Manual) is something every company, regardless of size, should have. It is especially useful at onboarding, informing your new employees what is expected of them – and what they can…
Congress Weighing Comp Time In Lieu of OT
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, when a non-exempt employee works more than 40 hours in a workweek, that employee gets paid overtime at time-and-a-half the regular rate of pay. Under the FLSA, a private-sector employer cannot provide that employee…
Supreme Court Agrees to Decide On Employer Class Action Waivers
Picture a nerdier version of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where persuasive legal briefs and sharp oral advocacy are like rear naked chokes and “ground and pound.” The fight card In one corner, we have the Federal Arbitration Act. Among other things,…
Yes, You Can Ban Political Talk At Work. But Good Luck
Over the weekend, my HR buddy Heather Kinzie and I exchanged emails about employees discussing politics on social media. Serendipitously, a recent employee firing over an explosive tweet — yeah, I know, shocking — provides me with some fodder for you. Nancy…
Your Agency Temps Can Now Form A Bargaining Unit With Your Own Employees
Over the last seven+ years, the National Labor Relations Board has consistently expanded collective bargaining rights in a variety of employment settings. Continuing that trend, the NLRB has now reversed over a decade of precedent and ruled that temporary employees…
4 Pro-Employee Trends That Are Picking Up Steam
Declaring that “The pro-employee tide is rising,” a report out this morning identifies four developments in regulations and compliance that if they don’t yet affect your workforce, they soon may. New overtime regs, the push for a $15 minimum wage,…