Dental Office Learned the Hard Way: No Union, Employees Still Protected by NLRA
By Management Labor Lawyer | | NLRB
A Texas dental office just learned a $0-union-membership lesson: you don’t need a union for employees to have rights under federal labor law. Here’s what happened. Per the NLRB’s June 1 decision, a front-desk coordinator at Aqua Dental in Pearland, Texas helped write an anonymous email airing workplace gripes — schedules, pay, micromanagement, people working…
Read More Biden’s Project Labor Agreement EO Endures Despite Contractor Wins
By Management Labor Lawyer | | NLRB
Construction companies have racked up multiple legal victories over the past 18 months challenging former President Biden’s pro-union contracting executive order. But the order itself — which requires Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) to win federal construction contracts worth $35 million or more — remains in place. The Biden EO requires companies to enter PLAs (pre-hire…
Read More EEOC Sues Construction Company for Bias Against American Workers
By Management Labor Lawyer | | NLRB
On May 12, the EEOC filed a lawsuit against Advanced Technology Group, Inc., alleging the company created a hostile work environment for American workers — including Hispanic-American employees — at a New Mexico construction jobsite. The EEOC is suing on behalf of Robert Gutierrez, a Hispanic-American Journeyman Carpenter, and a class of other American workers.…
Read More Seventh Circuit Skeptical of NLRB 10(j) Injunctions After Starbucks v. McKinney
By Management Labor Lawyer | | NLRB
The NLRB faced sharp questioning from two Republican-appointed Seventh Circuit judges over its bid for a temporary bargaining order against a truck dealership and related staffing companies. The argument is significant: it’s the next test of how aggressively the Supreme Court’s 2024 Starbucks v. McKinney decision narrows the Board’s most effective enforcement tool. Section 10(j)…
Read More Rieth-Riley: The Sixth Circuit’s Roadmap on Multiemployer Withdrawal, Lockouts, and ULP Strikes
By Management Labor Lawyer | | NLRB
The Sixth Circuit denied Rieth-Riley Construction Co.’s petition for review and enforced the NLRB’s order requiring the Indiana-based contractor to bargain in good faith with Local 324, IUOE — capping a nearly decade-long dispute and producing a useful set of black-letter lessons for any employer facing multiemployer bargaining issues. The dispute started in 2018 when…
Read More Joint Employer Rule Reversion — What Construction (and Others) Needs to Know
By Management Labor Lawyer | | NLRB
On February 27, 2026, the NLRB issued a final rule withdrawing the Biden-era joint employer standard and replacing it with the standard adopted during Trump’s first administration in 2020. A federal court had already vacated the 2023 Biden rule, finding it “contrary to law” and “arbitrary and capricious.” The new framework is significantly simpler. The…
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