Category: Labor Law

The turn of the phrase “labor pains” when talking about union organizing is now an old, trite (and stupid, while meant to be humorous) expression.  But it’s one I heard used regularly when I was a baby lawyer in the mid-1980s.  K&S posted a number of blogs in 2022 regarding the new wave of union organizing.  Moreover,  a quick inquiry to your favorite search engine will show you that there is a resurgence in organizing.  It has not...

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) came out with a bunch of year-end decisions, some of which were blogged about by my friend and partner Eric Paltell on this site a couple of weeks ago.   Put gently, none of these decisions could be considered “employer-friendly.”  Here’s another one. On its last day before the winter break, the NLRB held, in a 2-1 decision, that an employer committed an unfair labor practice (ULP) by refusing to...

In a decision issued on the last day of Member Ring's term, the NLRB ruled that an employer's failure to provide the union with  home phone numbers for five employees did not warrant setting aside the employer's election victory.  In MVM, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 32, the Board held that omitting the numbers for only five of the 92 employees while providing cell phone numbers for all employees "substantially complied" with the voting list requirements...

On December 13, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision  that will substantially expand the relief available to an employee who prevails in an unfair labor practice charge proceeding.  The Board's decision in Thrive, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 22, holds that the standard "make-whole" remedy for an employee harmed by an employer's unfair labor practice includes compensation for "all direct or foreseeable pecuniary harm" resulting from...

One way an employer may violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is to create a “company union.”  Under Section 8(a)(2) of the NLRA, it is an unfair labor practice for an employer “to dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or contribute financial or other support to it.”  A labor organization is “any organization of any kind, or any agency or employee representation committee or plan,...

Things are really heating up between Apple, Inc. (“Apple”) and the Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO (“CWA”).  The CWA has been campaigning at numerous Apple retail stores, attempting to gain a foothold in the sector.  Earlier this year, an Apple store in Towson, Maryland voted to unionize, becoming Apple’s first US unionized location.  That store’s employees are represented by the International Association of Machinists and...