A new ruling favorable to companies held that successor employers that discriminate in hiring to avoid bargaining duties are free to set their own initial terms of employment so long as they did not say they would keep all the predecessor’s workers or if their hiring scheme did not unlawfully target union workers. In that…

The law surrounding a purchaser’s obligations to the seller’s union is complex. When structured accordingly, purchasers can set initial terms of employment while bargaining a new collective bargaining agreement. Until now, only the purchaser could bind itself to additional obligations to the seller’s union. Now, though, the seller can obligate the purchaser to inherit the…

I serve as the labor counsel to the Ohio Grocer’s Association, so this NYC law is of great interest to Ohio grocers and me. The New York City Council passed a law that prohibits successor grocery employers from discharging certain grocery store employees without cause during a 90-day transition period following a “change in control.”…

A real estate operator acquired seven buildings from a property owner. The owner had used a services provider whose employees were represented by the Machinists’ Union. The real estate operator agreed to hire seven of the service provider’s eight bargaining unit employees pursuant to New York City’s Displaced Building Service Workers Protection Act. This local…

DCX-CHOL purchased the assets of Stuart Manufacturing. At the time of sale, DCX-CHOL acknowledged in a letter sent to the union representing the Stuart employees that DCX-CHOL was a successor to Stuart. This obligated DCX-CHOL and the union to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. A few weeks after the sale, though, employees signed a…

As the economy improves, companies are becoming more active in the merger and acquisition space. I can personally attest that the M&A lawyers in my firm are busy. With all the other areas of concern to focus on, deal lawyers and business managers oftentimes forget to include labor attorneys on deals involving unionized companies. To…