In 2014 the Obama Board imposed several additional requirements for an employer to defer an unfair labor practice charge to a grievance-arbitration procedure and, thus, postpone or avoid litigating the charge. This decision imposed several types of burdens on employers, like allowing unions to “block” deferral in many situations.   The decision did not however…

National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Peter Robb has expressed strong recommendations to give employees access to collect more damages after an arbitration or settlement. This is a stark departure from the otherwise pro-employer and red-tape cutting expectations of the Trump Administration. Currently, employers cannot use an arbitration agreement or settlement agreement to prevent an…

A discharged Cummins, Inc. plant worker who wasn’t a union member may be entitled to have the Machinists union pay his lost wages after the union refused to arbitrate his complaint contesting the firing. Machinists Talbot Lodge No. 61 represents all of the production and maintenance employees at a Tennessee Cummins plant, but a union…

Cargill has a “no cell phone” policy in its employee guide. The policy provides that all employees must be attentive and alert to their jobs, and are not allowed to read books, magazines, newspapers, or other materials while on the clock.  From 2014 to 2016, the grievant was cited multiple times for his cell phone…

A Coca-Cola bottler unlawfully fired a union steward who used profanity in front of company executives and dozens of employees. The ALJ said the National Labor Relations Act gives employees “some leeway for impulsive behavior,” and the decision illustrates that profanity in the workplace isn’t likely to take an employee outside the protection of federal…

File this under “Unions can Make Life Difficult”. A company’s attendance policy tallies points for an absence that an employee accrues, regardless of the reason for the absence. Any employee who accumulates 10 points under the absenteeism system in a rolling 12 month period is terminated. An employee telephones his supervisor and informed him that…