Judge Strikes Down Contractor's "No Union Hires" Policy

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
01/03/2018
Late last month, a NLRB Administrative Law Judge found that a Pennsylvania construction contractor violated the NLRA by screening out applicants with union backgrounds.  Hard Hat Services,  4-CA-196783 (12/27/17). The Judge found that the company improperly asked applicants about their union membership and relied on an on-line recruiting service to screen out applicants who appeared to have union affiliation. The NLRA makes it illegal for an...
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Employers Receive Three Big Gifts From NLRB

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
12/22/2017
In the middle of this holiday season, the NLRB was in a gift-giving mood to employers, updating standards in several important areas of labor law.  In the 48 hours before the expiration of his term (and unconfirmed return to the North Pole), departing Chairman Philip Miscimarra issued three pivotal, 3-2 decisions that will substantially benefit employers going forward in three areas: (1) employee handbooks; (2) joint employment; and (3) bargaining...
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House Passes Legislation Narrowing Joint Employer Doctrine

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
11/21/2017
One of the most pressing issues for employers and contractors is the joint employer doctrine.  This doctrine allows the NLRB and other agencies to consider one business the employer of another business’ employee if it had indirect or potential control over the second business’ employees.  What is indirect or potential control, you ask?  Therein lies the problem. While the NLRB decision that expanded this doctrine to its current state is still...
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Two Employment Related Measures Under Consideration By Congress

At least two employment-related bills have been introduced in Congress in recent days.  The first, H.R. 4219, dubbed the Workflex in the 21st Century Act, would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to include an option for qualified flexible workplace arrangements.  Under the legislation in its current form, employers would voluntarily offer employees at least a guaranteed minimum level of paid leave.  The amount of leave...
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President Trump Appoints Peter B. Robb to NLRB General Counsel Post

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
09/19/2017
On September 15, 2017, President Trump appointed Peter Robb to be General Counsel of the NLRB for a four year term.  Robb is a management-side attorney, who had previously served as chief counsel to former NLRB Member Robert Hunter. The General Counsel decides what actions to bring before the NLRB, and also has the authority to dismiss charges.  It is widely expected that Robb will roll-back guidance promulgated by President Obama’s General...
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Google and the "Sevens"

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
08/22/2017
Many of you have read or heard about the recent “Google memo” dispute.  An employee of the search engine company named James Damore circulated an internal ten-page memo to Google’s other employees that has since gone viral and created a great deal of public discussion, especially after Google fired him based on the views he expressed.    Regardless of what you may think of the views espoused by Mr. Damore in the memo, his conduct, and...
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NLRB Upholds Discharge of Disruptive Union Activist

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/24/2017
A recent decision issued by the National Labor Relations Board demonstrates that sometimes an employee can go too far, and that termination is a proper remedy for improper conduct.  BHC Northwest Psychiatric Hospital, LLC; cases nos. 04-CA-164465, 04-CA-174166, May 15, 2017. BHC operates an in-patient facility that provides mental health services.  The charging party was part of a bargaining unit of staff and charge nurses.  Mental health...
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ALJ Feasts On Employee Handbook, Finds Policies Unlawful Under NLRA

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/16/2017
President Trump recently announced the two individuals he will nominate to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  The announcement, covered in a prior blog entry, is the next step in changing the trajectory of the NLRB from its heavy employee tilt toward a more employer-friendly outlook.  Until the two new members are confirmed and the NLRB begins issuing decisions altering the labor law landscape created by President Obama’s NLRB, employers...
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Trump Expected to Nominate Two Management Attorneys to NLRB

Kollman & Saucier
Kollman & Saucier
05/11/2017
According to sources with access to the White House, President Trump  plans to nominate two Republican attorneys to the NLRB by June, and to have them confirmed by the Senate before its August recess.  The nominees,  Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel, would  fill the two vacant slots on the  Board and give agency a Republican majority. Emanuel is a management-side employment lawyer with Littler Mendelson in Los Angeles.  According to the...
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Skip the Hackers, I’ll Take the Money Myself

Darrell VanDeusen
Darrell VanDeusen
05/04/2017
Ever wonder where union dues go?  Our last blog post involved a CWA chapter that got hacked for nearly a half million dollars.   But there was no need to fall for a Nigerian prince scam in Pittsburgh.   Apparently you can still getting money the old fashioned way - just take it. Boilermakers Local 154 claims that its former business manager embezzled nearly $1.5 million in member dues.  The union represents over 2,000 welders, pipefitters and...
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