Quick Primer on How Companies Run Afoul of NLRB Laws when Not Negotiating Over Pay Raises

A federal appeals court upheld most of the NLRB’s ruling that three California hospitals violated federal labor law by unilaterally changing pay and benefits for unionized workers during the COVID-19 pandemic without bargaining with their union.

The panel rejected the hospitals’ claim that the pandemic created an emergency excusing bargaining, noting there was no evidence of an imminent staffing crisis that made negotiations impossible. Because the union received no prior notice, it could not have waived its bargaining rights.

The court also agreed that Los Robles hospital violated the law when it rescinded its temporary pay-and-benefit program in June 2020 for workers represented by the SEIU, while keeping the program for non-union employees until August 2020.