Employers in the United States received a significant win on March 8, 2024 when a federal court in Texas struck down the National Labor Relations Board’s (“Board”) expansive new “joint employer” rule, and upheld the existing (and more employer-friendly) 2020 rule. This rule would have expanded the circumstances under which two businesses could be designated as “joint employers,” and that could have significantly altered the legal landscape attendant to various workplace relationships. The consequences of being characterized as a “joint employer” can be surprisingly significant: the second empl ..read more

Historically, the banking and finance industry has operated without much union interference. However, under the current guidance of Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”), the tides are turning toward unionization in sectors previously not considered ripe for union organizing, including banking and finance. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, only 1.1% of workers in the banking and finance industry are unionized. A 2013 study, commissioned by the Committee for Better Banks, a New York based group advocating for the rights of banking and finance ..read more

In this episode of the Labor Law Insider, attorneys Adam Doerr, Trecia Moore, and host Tom Godar continue their discussion of decertification petitions, focusing on some of the practical implications related to decertification efforts, including: Employees who are frustrated with their union representative may be stymied by the complex decertification process, and the specific and detailed requirements of the process. Employers may consider withdrawal of union recognition based on loss of majority support, bolstered by a decertification petition, but face risks in doing so ..read more

In this episode of the Labor Law Insider podcast, our host, Tom Godar, is joined by Husch Blackwell attorneys Adam Doerr and Trecia Moore to discuss union decertification.  In 2022 there were approximately 1,700 petitions for election filed before the NLRB, and about 300 of these were filed by employees to decertify their bargaining unit representative. Over 300 Starbucks elections have resulted in union representation and at least 16 petitions for decertification have been filed. Employees continue to seek the end of union representation for a variety of reasons ..read more

Under a typical election scenario, a union files an election petition with the Board’s Regional Office, along with a “showing of interest” demonstrating enough employee support (at least 30% of the unit described in the petition) to justify an election. The union also serves the petition on the employer, along with a description of Board procedures, informing parties of their rights and obligations in the process, and a “statement of position” form. The union’s filing of a petition is often preceded by a union demand that the employer voluntarily agree to recognize the union as the collec ..read more

On August 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) issued its anticipated ruling in Stericycle, Inc., reversing the Trump-era Boeing decision that famously implemented a three-category test for balancing whether workplace rules unlawfully interfered with employees’ rights to engage in “protected concerted activity” under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or the “Act”). Proclaiming to advance a “modified version” of the Obama-era Lutheran Heritage framework, the Board in Stericycle returned to Lutheran Heritage’s central framework of finding workplace ..read more

On May 1, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued its decision in Lion Elastomers and United Steelworkers, making it more difficult for employers to discipline employees for outbursts and similar misconduct while employees are engaged in protected concerted activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”). The NLRB in Lion Elastomers overruled the Trump-era General Motors decision, which had overruled Atlantic Steel, 245 NLRB 814 (1979), Clear Pine Mouldings, 268 NLRB 1044 (1984), and Pier Sixty, 362 NLRB 505 (2015). In those three cases, the NLRB found ..read more

It is not often that the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) gives employers a heads-up before it makes broad, and often burdensome, changes, but a recently issued ALJ decision might be the exception to the rule. Earlier this year, an Administrative Law Judge issued a decision in Saint Leo University, Inc., 12-CA-275612 (2023) reinforcing how the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) is applied to religious educational institutions, however, the briefing in the case indicated how that application might change in the near future. Whether the Board has jurisdiction over religious edu ..read more

According to a recent Gallup poll, 71 percent of Americans “approve of labor unions,” up three percentage points from 2021. This represents a generational high-water mark for union support – the last time Gallup measured a higher union approval rating among the American public was 1959 when 73 Americans approved of labor unions. Prior to this year, union support had remained lower than 70% ever since union support dropped to 66 percent in 1967. The low-water mark was reached in 2009 when unions enjoyed only 48% support from the American public. Thus, while 84% of Americans surveyed still respo ..read more

On August 29, 2022, the NLRB issued its decision in Tesla, Inc., overruling precedent that allowed employers to enforce facially-neutral dress codes to prohibit wearing non-conforming attire, including union insignia and union logos. Now, employers must allow employees to wear union attire absent a showing of “special circumstances.” In Tesla, the electric car manufacturer had a mandatory dress code requiring its production associates to wear “assigned team wear,” consisting of a company-provided plain black cotton shirt or a plain black cotton shirt containing Tesla’s logo and black cotton pa ..read more