Under Lutheran Heritage (2004), the Board was supposed to view the totality of a corporate policy and not individual fragments of that policy. This decision tried to provide a framework for evaluating the language of employer policies. However, the Board overly-scrutinized all policies and often examined fragments of a policy without regard to the full…

The General Counsel has determined that, pursuant to the NLRB’s landmark Boeing Co. balancing test, an employer’s rule entitled “commitment to my coworkers,” which required employees to “accept responsibility for establishing and maintaining healthy interpersonal relationships,” to speak with coworkers directly and “promptly” about problems between them rather than speaking with others, to not complain…

In the 2004 Lutheran Heritage decision, neutrally worded handbook rules that could be “reasonably construed” by employees to prohibit the exercise of National Labor Relations Act rights became unlawful. Since then, the Board repeatedly ignored context and completely disregarded employer explanations unrelated to union activity, to cite this decision as support to outlaw historically common…

Employers can prohibit the use by employees of the names, social security numbers, and credit card numbers of customers in furtherance of organizational activities. This ruling came after the NLRB scrutinized the employer’s definition of confidential information and policies covering “Use of Personal Data” and “Confidentiality and Acceptable Use of Company Systems.” The company defined…

T-Mobile had a handbook that asked employees to be professional and maintain a “positive work environment.” The NLRB found that phrase unlawful because “employees would reasonably construe the rule to restrict potentially controversial or contentious communication and discussions, including those protected by Section 7 of the [NLRA], out of fear that the [employer] would deem…

The NLRB and courts recognize that off-duty employees have greater rights than non-employees when it comes to accessing the employer’s property to engage in protected activity. The NLRB applies a three-part test to determine if an employer’s off-duty access policy is valid under the National Labor Relations Act. An off-duty access policy is valid only…