In PCC Structurals, Inc., the Board reinstated the traditional community of interest standard to be used when determining whether unions have included all necessary employees on a petition for union representation. The Board’s reversal is a welcomed relief to employers who have been forced to bargain with several small units of employees in one workplace,…

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) overruled Browning-Ferris Industries and returned to the pre-BFI standard that governed joint employer liability. The BFI decision set forth a broad definition of “joint employer” imposing liability and requiring bargaining in situations where a business posses only potential and indirect control over the employees in question. The BFI test…

Many employers (and this management-side labor lawyer in particular) were surprised by the Obama Board’s inability to overturn IBM Corp., 341 NLRB 1288 (2004), and extend Weingarten rights to non-union employees. The Obama Board, nevertheless, expanded the scope of Weingarten rights in a few areas. Manhattan Beer: The Obama Board ruled that a beer distributor…

National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judges have regained the power to approve partial settlements of Unfair Labor Practice charges (ULPs) even if the NLRB’s General Counsel, and the charging parties themselves, disagree. This practice, known as the “reasonableness” settlement standard was restored when the NLRB’s five-member Board affirmed an ALJ order that had applied…

Stevens Engineers & Constructors, Inc. doesn’t owe withdrawal liability to the Iron Workers Local 17 Pension Fund because the work identified by the union did not fall with the jurisdiction of their previous collective bargaining agreement. The decision is a blow for the distressed Iron Workers pension fund, which is severely underfunded with a deficit…

In the 2004 Lutheran Heritage decision, neutrally worded handbook rules that could be “reasonably construed” by employees to prohibit the exercise of National Labor Relations Act rights became unlawful. Since then, the Board repeatedly ignored context and completely disregarded employer explanations unrelated to union activity, to cite this decision as support to outlaw historically common…