Under the National Labor Relations Act, employers may forbid employees from using company provided email and electronic communication systems for all non-business activities. Specifically, employees have no statutory right to use their Employer’s email system for Section 7 purposes, including union organizing activity. The NLRB’s General Counsel and the Communication Workers of America believe that…

Region 13, the region of the National Labor Relations Board that covers Chicago, entered into agreements with the Illinois Department of Labor and the Chicago Commission of Human Relations to collaborate and share information during investigations. The agreements provide that whenever one agency is processing a case and discovers information that may show a violation…

A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge found that a New York restaurant illegally fired a waiter for filing a minimum wage and overtime lawsuit under the Fair Labor Standards Act even though the employee was the only named plaintiff and did not assert that any other employees had opted to join in the…

Although the union election at Volkswagen in Tennessee has captured the headlines, the UAW has simultaneously been targeting the Mercedes-Benz and Nissan factories in Alabama and Mississippi, respectively. The union filed unfair labor practice charges against Mercedes alleging that union organizers were not allowed inside the plant despite its parent company Daimler AG’s long-held policy…

Kroger maintained a communications policy that required workers to attach a statement indicating that Kroger did not necessarily share their views to any online posting about their employment. This disclaimer strictly followed a 2012 memorandum from the then Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board that said employers could lawfully require employees to…

Employee Zamora was part of a group of non-union employees who went on strike to protest the speed of a conveyor belt at the meatpacking plant where he worked. A few weeks later, the same employees planned to strike again. About 30 minutes before the strike commenced, Zamora was called into his supervisor’s office and…