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…

Deferral is a term that hardcore labor lawyers, like yours truly, know, but unless you are a seasoned labor practitioner, you probably don’t know what it means. In the NLRB’s 1955 Spielberg ruling, the Board decided that it would defer to arbitrators’ decisions when the proceedings appeared to have been fair and regular, the parties…

In 1984 the NLRB held that it should defer action if the contractual issue under a collective bargaining agreement is “factually parallel” to an unfair labor practice issue, an arbitrator is presented with relevant facts to resolve the issue, and an arbitration award is not “clearly repugnant” to the National Labor Relations Act. Thirty years…