NLRB ISSUES COMPLAINT AGAINST HOSPITAL FOR SCHEDULING ITS OWN EMPLOYEES

Peter Saucier
Peter Saucier
06/05/2015
One thing about which unions and employers ordinarily agree is that it is the right and obligation of management to manage. Employers want to manage and unions want to retain the right to claim that the employer did not manage when it should have done so. That makes a recent decision by the NLRB to issue a complaint against a hospital interesting. Armstrong County Memorial Hospital, No. 6-CA-144586, complaint issued 5/27/15. In 2014, licensed...
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NLRB Strikes Down Employer's "No-Button" Rule

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/11/2015
Another day, another employer policy that violates employees’ Section 7 rights. In this case, Boch Imports, Inc. and International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, case 01-CA-083551, the Board was asked to review an employer’s social media policy and prohibition against certain clothing and pins. Not surprisingly, the Board found these actions impermissibly restrained employees’ rights to discuss the terms and conditions of...
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F*** My Boss; F*** his mother; F*** his family… Fuggetaboutit

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
04/07/2015
So, what’s the big deal?   That doesn’t get you fired. At least that’s what the NLRB says. As long as you say it on Facebook during a union campaign. And you’re a union supporter. And you add “Vote YES for the union.” Pier Sixty, LLC, 362 NLRB No. 59 (March 31, 2015). Hernan Perez worked for Pier Sixty, a catering company in New York City. Some employees wanted a union, “in part because of concerns that management repeatedly treated...
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Religious Universities No Longer Sacred Ground For Union Organizing

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
12/31/2014
For approximately thirty years, religious colleges and universities could sleep easy at night knowing that the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment generally shielded them from the long arms of the National Labor Relations Act. However, a recent decision from the National Labor Relations Board greatly expands the reach of the NLRA and establishes a new test for union organizing at religious schools. Pacific Lutheran...
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NLRB Requires Employers to Disclose Employees' Personal Email Addresses & Phone Numbers to Unions

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
12/15/2014
I thought that  headline might grab your attention.   Shocking as it may sound, that is one of the requirements of the NLRB's new 700 page  rule  on representation elections.   The rule is published in the Federal Register today, and takes effect on April 14, 2015. The rule was first issued in 2011 but later was invalidated by a federal court because the Board lacked a quorum when it was enacted. Chamber of Commerce of the U.S. v. NLRB, 879...
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NLRB Rules That Employees Have Presumptive Right to Use Company Email for Union Organizing

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
12/12/2014
In a much anticipated decision that came as no surprise, on December 11, 2014, the NLRB ruled that employers generally must allow employees to  use the company's email system to organize a union, solicit complaints,  criticize managers, and otherwise discuss terms and conditions of employment.  Purple Communications, Inc.  361 NLRB No. 126 (2014).  Although the ruling has been expected for some time, many employers will need to review and likely...
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NLRB Defers Ruling on Legality of Employer Email Policies

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
09/30/2014
For the past six months, legal prognosticators (myself included) have told readers that when the NLRB issues a ruling in the Purple Communications case, we'd have a new standard for what restrictions, if any, employers may place on employee use of company email systems.  On September 24, 2014, the Board issued its ruling.  And the answer is ..... "check back with us later (probably after the November election)." Purple Communications provides sign...
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The Facebook Frenzy Continues... "Liking" A Post Is Now Protected Activity Thanks To The NLRB

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
09/04/2014
Once again, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is taking a stance against employers who use social media activity as a basis for employment decisions.  While the list of NLRB cases and General Counsel Memorandum on the subject of social media and protected concerted activity continues to grow, the latest decision really goes to an extreme.  In Triple Play Sports Bar & Grille, 361 NLRB No. 31 (2014), the NLRB ruled that an employee's...
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Informal Rule Prohibiting Discipline Discussions Held To Be Unfair Labor Practice

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
08/20/2014
On August 14th, the National Labor Relations Board reversed an Administrative Law Judge’s decision dismissing an unfair labor practice against Philips Electronics. The NLRB’s three member panel ruled that Philips’ unwritten rule prohibiting employees from discussing discipline was an impermissible restraint on employee speech. Philips Electronics North America Corporation and Lee Craft, Case 26-CA-085613 (August 14, 2014). The Philips matter...
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Law Limiting Public Sector Bargaining

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
08/07/2014
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld, in its entirety, the 2011 Wisconsin statute that curtailed collective bargaining rights for public sector employees. Madison Teachers, Inc. v. Walker, No. 2012AP2067 (July 31, 2014). In 2011, in a move that attracted significant fanfare and the chagrin of union advocates, the Wisconsin legislature passed Act 10, which prohibited public sector employees from collectively bargaining on issues other than wages,...
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