Labor and Employment Law Blog

Employees’ Refusal to Work Over Coronavirus Concerns

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, most businesses were faced with making difficult decisions regarding their workforce. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that, in April, the unemployment rate rose to 14.7 percent totaling 23.1 million unemployed. While the number of new unemployment claims appears to be dropping, for the week ending May 2, 2020, […]

May 15, 2020 | 1 min read | Tagged: ADAAA, CARES Act, Coronavirus, COVID-19, FFCRA, FMLA, NLRA, NLRB, OSHA, Paid Sick Time, Unemployment Insurance Benefits

Jerry Morales Of Counsel

Jennifer R. Yee Partner

Marian Zapata-Rossa Partner

Tiffanny Brosnan Partner

Joseph A. Kroeger, P.C. Partner

Swen Prior Partner

David P. Williams Counsel

Elizabeth S. Wylie Former Partner

The NLRB Just Made It Harder To Lasso Franchisors And Affiliated Businesses For The Alleged Sins Of Their Compatriots

In 2015, the NLRB adopted a more relaxed standard for determining when an entity could be considered a joint employer and thus liable for alleged workplace wrongs along with a direct employer. Of course the result of the loosening of the reins meant an increase in the number of defendants listed on complaints as potentially […]

February 25, 2020 | 2 min read | Tagged: Joint Employer Status, Joint Employers, NLRA, NLRB

Christy D. Joseph Of Counsel

Criticizing the Employer’s Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Policies

Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (the Act) gives employees the right to engage in “concerted activities” for “mutual aid or protection.” In general, “concerted activities” are activities or conduct by employees with or on the authority of other employees. This includes activities or conduct by one employee designed to initiate or induce […]

February 24, 2020 | 2 min read | Tagged: NLRA, NLRB, Protected Concerted Activity

Jerry Morales Of Counsel

Winter 2020 Under Construction Newsletter – Out Now!

The winter edition of Snell & Wilmer’s Under Construction newsletter is out now! This issue addresses: Employees’ Use of Social Media to Complain About Working; Tips for Mediation of the Toughest Construction Disputes; Overview of the ConsensusDocs® 900 Public-Private Partnership (P3) Agreement and General Conditions; The Registrar of Contractors and the Residential Contractors’ Recovery Fund: […]

January 17, 2020 | 1 min read | Tagged: California, Employees, NLRA, NLRB

Audrey E. Chastain Associate

Deferral By The NLRB To Grievance/Arbitration Procedures

Overruling 2014 precedent, see Babcock & Wilcox Construction, 361 NLRB 1127 (2014), the National Labor Relations Board (Board), last week in UPS, Inc. 369 NLRB No. 1 (Dec. 23, 2019), returned to the standard that applied from 1984 to 2014 for deferral of alleged unlawful discharges and/or disciplinary action against employees to contractual grievance/arbitration procedures. See Spielberg Mfg.Co., 112 […]

December 30, 2019 | 1 min read | Tagged: Board, Discharge, Disciplinary Action, Grievance, Olin, Speilberg, Unlawful Discharge

Jerry Morales Of Counsel

Employers May Require Confidentiality During Ongoing Disciplinary Investigations and Prohibit Use of Company Equipment for Nonbusiness Purposes

Overruling Obama-era precedent, on December 17 the National Labor Relations Board (Board) published two decisions that will significantly affect all employers. For more information, click here.

December 18, 2019 | 1 min read | Tagged: NLRA, NLRB, Obama, Protected Concerted Activity, Unions

Jerry Morales Of Counsel

Employees’ Use of Social Media to Complain About Working Conditions

Employers often confront the question of whether employees can be disciplined for using social media, such as Facebook, to communicate with other employees about complaints regarding terms and conditions of employment. Frequently some of those communications are expressed in terms that are offensive and disparaging about the employer and/or specific supervisors. In deciding whether employees […]

December 4, 2019 | 2 min read | Tagged: NLRA, NLRB, Protected Activity

Jerry Morales Of Counsel

The Trend to Adopt Mandatory Employment Arbitration Programs

In recent years, many private sector employers have adopted mandatory arbitration programs for employment disputes, which their employees are required to sign as a condition of employment. Main objectives of those programs are the expeditious resolution of employment disputes and the avoidance of protracted and expensive court litigation. Typically, mandatory employment arbitration programs list the […]

September 19, 2019 | 2 min read | Tagged: Arbitration, Employees, Employment Arbitration Agreements, NLRA, NLRB

Jerry Morales Of Counsel

The Labor Board Gives Unionized Employers More Flexibility Managing Their Workforce

It is well established that, in general, employers, whose employees are represented by a union, commit unfair labor practices by making any material, substantial and significant change regarding most terms and conditions of employment affecting the unionized employees, without first providing the union notice and a meaningful opportunity to bargain about the change to agreement […]

September 19, 2019 | 2 min read | Tagged: NLRA, NLRB, Unions

Jerry Morales Of Counsel

Scalia Fills Labor Role

Just as businesses were expressing cautious optimism over the interim replacement of Labor Secretary Acosta by veteran GOP operative and business ally Patrick Pizzella, on July 18, 2019 the President announced plans to nominate business attorney Eugene Scalia to fill the role. The son of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and current attorney at […]

July 19, 2019 | 1 min read | Tagged: Labor, Labor Secretary, Pizzella, Scalia, Trump, White House

David P. Williams Counsel