The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled on June 26, 2014 that President Obama’s three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) were unconstitutional and therefore, invalid. The Court’s ruling likely means that hundreds of cases the NLRB decided in 2012 and 2013, while the recess appointees were seated, are now invalid. Many…

An employee was playing with a tablet computer during a company meeting. His supervisor told him to stop, but he refused to do so. She wrote him up for insubordination, and the employee laminated the warning and posted it in his cubicle where his fellow workers could see it. The employee was told to take…

Joseph Agins was active in trying to unionize four Starbucks coffee shops. According to the NLRB ruling, he was terminated for having twice cursed during arguments with managers. In the first incident, Agins was angry that an assistant manager did not come to help him right away when the shop got busy. When the manager…

Under current law established in 2007, an employer can restrict the use of email and company computer systems so long as the employer does not improperly draw distinctions between employees’ personal activities and their NLRA-sanctioned activities because of their protected nature. But as we know, the membership of the Board is different now and this…

Finally, some good news about getting out from beneath suffocating unfunded pension liability – but only if you own a REIT. A real estate holding company was not liable for a commonly owned employer’s $1.8 million withdrawal liability judgment because the company’s primary purpose during the relevant time period was personal rather than profit-seeking. Specifically,…

Michael Dela Paz, an employee of St. Rose Dominican Hospitals, argued with co-worker Habiba Araru, and threatened to “take care of her.” Dela Paz was placed on unpaid leave pending an investigation into the incident and was instructed not to contact any employees during his absence. Dela Paz ignored the contact ban by obtaining employee…