The DC Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld the findings of the National Labor Relations Board that the employer unlawfully terminated and/or suspended a number of employees for strike-related misconduct. But, a concurring opinion notably took the NLRB to task for “the too-often cavalier and enabling approach that the Board’s decisions have taken toward the…

The NLRB voted 3-1 to revise its backpay formula for compensating workers found to have been unlawfully terminated, ordering an employer to pay for a former employee’s interim-employment and search-for-work expenses. The Board had previously treated those types of expenses as offsets that reduced the amount of interim earnings that were then subtracted from gross…

Doctor’s Associates, Inc., which is the owner and franchisor for the Subway sandwich restaurant chain entered into a Voluntary Agreement with the US Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division “as part of Subway’s broader efforts to make its franchised restaurants and overall business operations socially responsible” and as part of Subway’s “effort to…

The NLRB found a fast food restaurant in Pennsylvania did not violate federal labor law when it asked a worker to delete certain Twitter postings, including one with “cheap #labor.” The Board’s ruling comes after an Administrative Law Judge found among other things, that the company violated the employee’s right to discuss wages and working…

Many businesses have recently asked me how they can defend against the NLRB’s Browning Ferris and Miller & Anderson rulings, should they be aware of other cases that may extend these holdings into previously unregulated relationships, and generally, what should companies do to comply with the new laws. Here are some answers: Before Browning Ferris,…

The law surrounding a purchaser’s obligations to the seller’s union is complex. When structured accordingly, purchasers can set initial terms of employment while bargaining a new collective bargaining agreement. Until now, only the purchaser could bind itself to additional obligations to the seller’s union. Now, though, the seller can obligate the purchaser to inherit the…