Unions (labor relations)

Girl Scout Cookies and Employment Law – Almost Everything That HR Needs To Know

January 25, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

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Won’t you help little Ivy Meyer achieve her Girl Scout Cookies sales goal?

It’s that time of year again.

Coworkers have begun bombarding you with requests to purchase Girl Scout Cookies. So, in that spirit, let’s tackle:

Whether unions will start organizing your workplace if you relax your no-solicitation policy to allow employees to sell Girl Scout Cookies;
Can employees use your email system to proselytize if co-workers use it to sell Girl Scout Cookies; and
A bonus discrimination case involving the sale of Girl Scout Cookies gone terribly wrong.

The NLRB may exterminate Scabby The Rat, and I have mixed feelings about that.

January 23, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

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Yep, that’s me about eight years ago posing with my first-born and an inflatable rat.

His name is Scabby. The rat, that is. And he may be going away for good soon.

Let’s start the year off with a big joint-employer decision

January 2, 2019 | by Eric B. Meyer

EriKolaborator [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

Notice, I didn’t go so far as to say, “Let’s start the year off right.” Continue reading

The National Labor Relations Board is revising its joint-employer standard. Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!!

September 14, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/cricket-long-green-blue-antennas-307982/)

Shhh…

If you listen quietly, you may just hear another subscriber clicking on this blog post.

Nope, those are crickets. Continue reading

All the hot takes on how Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh could shape employment law

July 11, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Respect to the employment law bloggers, reporters, and others who wasted no time 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.

*Cracks knuckles in preparation for lots of cutting and pasting*** Continue reading

Your employees can use your company email to try to form a union. But for how much longer?

July 9, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/mail-message-email-send-message-1454731/)

In 2014, the National Labor Relations Board ruled here in a case called Purple Communications that employees can use company email to try to form a union. Specifically, the Board held that “employee use of email for statutorily protected communication on nonworking time must presumptively be permitted by employers who have chosen to give employees access to their email systems.”

Yeah, I like my plain English better too.

Fast forward to 2018, and of all the places in the world, a federal appellate court in California — yes California — may be the one to change this. Continue reading

Hey HR! Here are 9 ways that you may want to update your employee handbook #SHRM18 #TheEmployerHandbook

June 18, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/update-upgrade-renew-improve-1672346/)

If you’re new to the field, you’ll have to take our word on it. But, HR-compliance professionals know that drafting an employee handbook that is 100% compliant got a lot tougher over the past several years.

Let’s forget about paid-sick-leave laws, ban-the-box, and other state/local law matters. I’m just talking about how strict the National Labor Relations Board had become in interpreting employee handbook policies for union and non-union employers. (Remember that the National Labor Relations Act is not limited to unionized employers.)

Fortunately, relief is on the way. And I have nine ways in which you can now update your handbook with the blessing of the Board’s General Counsel. Continue reading

What I have for you today is even better than a Bryan Colangelo post-mortem!

June 8, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/shirt-dress-white-clothes-clothing-2345417/)

My thorough rundown of all things Bryan Colangelo will have to wait until next week when I serve as a guest contributor to the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Today, however, I’ve got your hook up! Continue reading

NLRB to Dem Senators: We’re no longer “considering” joint-employer rule-making. We are rule-making!

June 6, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

By Chris Favero (https://www.flickr.com/photos/cfavero/8689987392/) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

“I am the law!”

The title of this blog post made me think of Judge Dredd. And if you don’t know or appreciate Judge Dredd, shame on you, Millennial.

Shame.

For the rest of you more cultured Renaissance human resource professionals, I have news that you’ll appreciate even more than my Judge Dredd references.

Maybe.

The National Labor Relations Board plans to make the law, err, rules to address the joint-employer standard. Continue reading

FREE WEBINAR and CLE: “Check-In: EEOC, DOL and NLRB Compliance—A Labor and Employment Law Roundtable” [June 6, 2018, 2-3 pm EDT]

May 23, 2018 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image Credit: Pixabay.com (https://pixabay.com/en/webinar-conferencing-video-beverage-3199164/)

The session, entitled “Check-In: EEOC, DOL and NLRB Compliance—A Labor and Employment Law Roundtable,” features an all-star panel of lawyers* and will explore each federal agency’s current compliance environment, enforcement priorities, practical guidelines for navigating difficult compliance issues and best practices. Continue reading