The top lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is ordering her subordinates to continue to seek injunctions against employers for alleged violations of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), despite the Supreme Court seemingly making it more difficult to obtain an injunction to enjoin an unfair labor practice. Section 10(j) of the NLRA permits the NLRB to seek temporary injunctions against employers and unions in federal courts to enjoin allegedly unfair labor practices while the case is being litigated before the NLRB. As we recently wrote, in Starbucks Corp. v McKinney, the S ..read more

What happens when the NLRB asks a federal court to remand a case back to the Board based on a new case holding to interpret the matter before it, the court does so, and then the Board pulls a “bait and switch” to flat out reject the very case authority it based its request on? The Fifth Circuit posed this very question at the start of its recent opinion where it found that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) exceeded the scope of the court’s prior remand and violated the employer’s due process rights to vacate the Board’s new determination and send the matter back to the Board to try aga ..read more

Can you prohibit your employees from bringing firearms to your workplace? You may think the answer is yes, but it’s more complicated. Recent state laws on gun rights have raised questions regarding guns at work. Here we will try to boil it down for you. New State Gun Laws Generally A few states have recently introduced laws about firearms, although not specifically about guns in the workplace. For example, Alabama’s 2023 concealed carry law allows individuals to carry a concealed firearm on public property without a permit. The law also allows individuals to carry a firearm in a vehicle withou ..read more

Crisis planning is not everyone’s idea of a good time, but an ounce of prevention is worth it when you are faced with a crisis. Here are 10 things to think about as you prepare for a possible crisis: Where is your organization vulnerable? Talk to employees, managers, and executives to learn what keeps them up at night. Then, plan what to do if those events happen. Who are your stakeholders? Who will be looking for a response from your company? It will depend on the crisis, but don’t forget employees, customers, vendors, and investors, as well as stockholders. Select your crisis team. Again, s ..read more

With the passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), the law on how you accommodate pregnant workers changed last June, and we blogged about it. Then the EEOC issued extensive regulations last August, and we blogged about that. In every state but Louisiana and Mississippi, those regulations went into full effect on June 18, 2024, so to the extent you are not ready for the PWFA, get ready. The regulations are very long, but here is the EEOC’s Summary of Key Provisions. To refresh your memory, keep these things in mind: The EEOC intends for the PWFA to have broad coverage. If an employ ..read more

In an 8-1 decision authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, the United States Supreme Court settled the conflict among circuits in setting the standard for issuing 10(j) injunctions sought in unfair labor practice proceedings. In Starbucks v. M. Kathleen McKinney, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Starbucks who was seeking to overturn a temporary injunction obtained by the NLRB regarding unfair labor practices it had allegedly committed.  Factual Summary The case arose after Starbucks terminated seven employees during a union organizing campaign in 2022 at one of its Memphis stores. The Boa ..read more

Does it seem like you are dealing with more mental health issues in your workforce? If so, you are not alone. Recent mental health claim statistics show an alarming increase in chronic illnesses since the pandemic. For adults between the ages of 35 and 44, mental illness diagnoses have increased from 48% in 2019 to 58% in 2023, according to the American Psychological Association. In its most recent Strategic Enforcement Plan, the EEOC listed “workers with mental health related disabilities” as one of the categories of vulnerable workers on which they will focus their efforts to preve ..read more

A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge in San Francisco recently ruled that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated the National Labor Relations Act when he commented on labor unions through several media outlets. As a result of Mr. Jassy’s violations, the judge entered an order requiring Amazon to post a nationwide notice stating that Amazon was in violation of the Act. The Amazon.com Services LLC decision involved the historical distinction between company management stating opinions as related to union activity, which is legal under the Act, and management making threats about suc ..read more

If an employer or coworker persistently uses a transgender worker’s wrong name or identified pronoun, can that constitute a hostile work environment in violation of Title VII? In Copeland v. Georgia Department of Corrections, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals said it could, vacating and remanding a trial court’s grant of summary judgment on a transgender worker’s Title VII hostile work environment claim.  Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, the law is clear that Title VII protects transgender employees from discrimination on the basis of sex. But Copeland ..read more

If you transfer an employee to a job with no loss in pay or title but the employee thinks it is less desirable, can that employee sue you for discrimination under Title VII? While it depends on the facts, in Muldrow v. St. Louis, the U.S. Supreme Court held that an employee challenging a job transfer must show only some harm, not significant harm, not material disadvantage, and not any other adjective beyond some harm. The ruling is likely to result in increased Title VII cases for job transfers where the employee believes the new position is disadvantageous.  Background We previously blo ..read more