A National Labor Relations Board regulation requires witnesses to be “examined orally under oath.” The Board has interpreted this statement as prohibiting witnesses from testifying by telephone. In a recent unfair labor practice hearing before an administrative law judge, the General Counsel to the NLRB wanted to question a witness living in Spain via videoconference.…

A non-profit organization that distributes food to low-income individuals funds its operations by using canvassers to solicit contributions from area residents. The non-profit requires the canvassers to be on time for transportation to and from the areas they target for solicitations, but otherwise canvassers largely work unsupervised. The non-profit considered the canvassers independent contractors, and…

A package delivery service was in the midst of a Teamsters organizing campaign when the company’s general manager told an employee involved in the organizing drive that “it had come to his attention that he had been “badmouthing” managers in the parking lot, and that such conduct was unprofessional, and that if this conduct continued,…

Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez recently published a blog post painting a very rosy picture of union membership. He cited data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to support his conclusion that the median weekly earnings for union workers last year were $200 a week more than for non-union workers. This “fact” seems to be…

When over 1,000 demonstrators showed up on the Venetian Casino Resort’s property in Las Vegas, the casino believed they were trespassers and asked them to leave. The resort then asked the police to intervene. The union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the Venetian interfered with the…

As we have explained several times before, the controversial 2011 Specialty Healthcare decision opened the door for unions to organize smaller, union-friendly groups of employees. Specialty Healthcare allows unions to create micro-bargaining units, which are a small portion of the total number of employees at a particular worksite. Unions can target these smaller groups and…