Employees have the right to engage in concerted activities, and employers commit unfair labor practices if they retaliate against employees for engaging in those activities. It is important to understand the concept of concerted activity. In order to find that an employee has engaged in concerted activity, it must be shown that: 1) the activity […]
Approximately one year ago, the United States Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Epic Systems v. Lewis, 548 U.S. ___ (2018), holding that class action waivers contained in arbitration agreements, including agreements between employers and their employees, are permissible and enforceable. See here. That decision left open, however, the question of: what if the arbitration […]
In its 2014 decision Purple Communications Inc. and Communication Workers of America, the NLRB ruled that employees could generally use employers’ email systems to organize or engage in other concerted activities protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, overturning board precedent and causing employers everywhere to scramble to update employee handbooks and […]
As previously reported on October 13, 2017, see here, the Federal Courts of Appeal were evenly divided on the question of whether class action waivers contained in otherwise enforceable employment arbitration agreements were permissible. Three Courts of Appeal, i.e., the Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits, had accepted the position advocated by the National Labor Relations […]
Many employers have implemented mandatory arbitration policies requiring that all employment related disputes be resolved through final and binding arbitration rather than in traditional court proceedings. In addition to these potential benefits, many employers have added class action waivers to their arbitration policies, in essence requiring that claims be brought on an individual basis only, and […]
