Unions (labor relations)

Fact or Fiction: It’s ok to fire an employee for pro-union Facebook posts to NON-employees

May 7, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

That’s right folks. It’s time for another edition of “Fact or Fiction” a/k/a “Quick Answers to Quick Questions” a/k/a QATQQ f/k/a “I don’t feel like writing a long blog post.”

I’ll set it up for you:

You run a non-union company called RH Chili Peppers. However, one of your employees, Disgruntled Donny, has been trying to get his co-workers to help unionize the workplace. Thus far, he has been unsuccessful. So, DD takes to Facebook and posts a message bashing the wages and benefits at RH Chili Peppers on a Facebook page called, “Peter Picked a Peck,” a Facebook page that DD “likes.” PPaP is frequented by employees, like DD, who work in the chili pepper industry, albeit at other chili pepper companies in the city.

FireMe! app outs Twitter users who talk smack about their jobs

April 3, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

While some people; namely, hockey players with local ties, use Twitter to congratulate an ex-wife on end of divorce payments, others spew venom about their bosses.

I know. I should have warned you to sit down first. Let me know when the shock subsides.

K-thx.

NLRB to ask Supreme Court to review its latest recess appointments

March 13, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Back in late January, a federal appellate court ruled that President Obama lacked the power to make three recess appointments last year to the National Labor Relations Board. More on that here.

In this press release issued yesterday, the NLRB announced that would seek Supreme Court review. Quoted below is the press release:

The National Labor Relations Board has determined not to seek en banc rehearing in Noel Canning v. NLRB, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit held that the January 4, 2012 recess appointments of three members to the Board were invalid. The Board, in consultation with the Department of Justice, intends to file a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court for review of that decision. The petition for certiorari is due on April 25, 2013.

National Right to Work? Plus, SCOTUS to take up Obama recess appointments

February 5, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

In just over half the States in America, if a majority of your co-workers elect to have a union represent them at work, then you must become a member of the union too — whether you like it or not. Nonmembers who object to that requirement must still may union dues. However, in nearly half of the USA (24 states, to be precise) employees in a unionized workplace may decide for themselves whether to join the union. This is known as “right-to-work.” Employees who exercise this right are not required to pay union dues.

Late last year, Michigan became the newest Right-to-Work State. And, last week, Senator Rand Paul (KY-R) reintroduced the “National Right-to-Work Act,” described as a bill to preserve and protect the free choice of individual employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, or to refrain from such activities. This bill would amend both the National Labor Relations Act and the Railway Labor Act to make “right-to-work” the law in all 50 states.

You can view a copy of the bill here.

Holy smokes! As in, up in smoke for Obama’s Labor Board selections

January 25, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled today that President Obama lacked the power to make three recess appointments last year to the National Labor Relations Board.

You can read a copy of the opinion here.

According to the U.S. Supreme Court, a two-member Board is powerless to exercise any authority. At the time of the three recess appointments, the Board only had two members.Therefore, by ruling that Obama’s three recess appointments are unconstitutional, today’s appellate-court ruling effectively moots every decision from the Board subsequent to the recess appointments, most of which went against employers.

The Employer Handbook turns 2; and the NLRB keeps hatin’ on employers

January 3, 2013 | by Eric B. Meyer

Whatcha get the blog for its birthday? Was it an iTunes subscription to Season One of Amish Mafia?

Don’t judge the blog. The blog doesn’t like to be judged.

After the jump, the selfless blog got you a recap of seven recent National Labor Relations Board decisions affecting your workplace…

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Employment Law Blog Carnival: Hollywood Casting Call Edition

November 14, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Welcome everyone to the Employment Law Blog Carnival: Hollywood Casting Call Edition.

[Editor’s Note: The original theme for this post was the “Employment Law Blog Carnival: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll Edition.” I had this bright idea to begin by cutting and pasting the lyrics to Guns N’ Roses’ “My Michelle,” and, let’s just say I bailed after the first line.]

So that leaves us with Plan B, where, after the jump, I have aggregated some of the best, recent posts from around the employment-law blogosphere and fit them together into a single theme: an open casting call.

Because just the other day, this theme came to me after waking from a Codeine/Claritin-D/Mucinex DM-induced slumber, in which I dreamt about casting a recent post of mine — the one where an employee lost out on an FMLA retaliation claim when her employer fired her after finding Facebook photos of her drinking at a local festival — while on FMLA. My movie will star Kim Kardashian, in her silver screen debut, as the employee. And Alan Thicke, who played Dr. Jason Seaver on “Growing Pains,” could play the company decision-maker. We’ll call it “FML Aye Yai Yai!“

[Editor’s Note: I’m throwing Thicke a bone here. Don’t you think? According to IMDB.com, he just finished production on “Fugget About It“, in which ex New York mobster Jimmy Falcone joins the Witness Protection Program and is relocated, with his family, to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Fugget about it, indeed.]

So that’s the idea. More great posts and imaginative casting decisions, after the jump…

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2 tips to help your social media policy withstand NLRB scrutiny

November 6, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Notwithstanding three social media advice memoranda, and another ruling from the National Labor Relations Board slamming Costco’s social media policy, you’d think employers would have a better idea how to revise their social media policies so as not to risk violating the National Labor Relations Act.

Well, not so much.

Except, the Board has recently issued guidance which attempts to clarify certain policy issues for employers. Does it? Well, sort of. It’s worth a read. Click through…

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NLRB breathes new life into your “at-will” employment disclaimers

November 1, 2012 | by Eric B. Meyer

Just Google it.

The National Labor Relations Board has been drawing a lot of attention for its heightened scrutiny of at-will employment disclaimers. For example, in a case involving the American Red Cross, a Board ALJ found that the American Red Cross broke the law by having an employee handbook policy that stated, in part, “I further agree that the at-will employment relationship cannot be amended, modified or altered in any way.”

But new guidance from the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel confirms what I’ve been saying: Don’t even think about scrapping those employee handbook at-will employment disclaimers. (Maybe a small tweak may do the trick).

More after the jump…

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