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Concerted Activity or Mere Griping?

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 […]

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JM
Of Counsel

The April 2019 Snell & Wilmer “Under Construction” Newsletter Out

The spring edition of Snell & Wilmer’s Under Construction newsletter has been published. See here. The Labor and Employment team contributed to this issue. Walker Crowson provides a useful overview of New Mexico’s construction law. While Jerry Morales addresses picketing threats which have affected many construction projects.

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Employment Handbooks and Confidentiality

Employers frequently ask if they can maintain rules  requiring employees to keep the contents of their employment handbooks confidential. In a recent memorandum, the General Counsel (GC) (Division of Advice) of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) concludes that such rules  are unlawful, as they interfere with the employees’ rights to discuss handbook policies regarding terms […]

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JM
Of Counsel

Union Dues Checkoff: Update from NLRB

A recent Memorandum issued by  the General Counsel (GC) of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)  (GC 19-04, February 22, 2019), discusses issues  of importance to all employers and in particular to employers that have union contracts that provide for union dues-checkoff. In the Memorandum, the GC reminds the NLRB Regions that the Labor Management […]

JM
Of Counsel

Union Agency Fees & Lobbying

In the 27 right to work states, currently in the country, union nonmembers may not be required to pay  fees to private sector unions as a condition to obtain or retain employment. In the rest of the states  – union security states –  private sector unions and employers may enter into agreements that require nonmembers to […]

JM
Of Counsel

Picketing Threats

Letters from unions to owners, general contractors, and other contractors informing them of the union’s dispute with one or more of the subcontractors, working at a common construction project site (or common situs), and of the union’s  plans to engage in  “public informational campaigns”  at the site, in furtherance of the dispute, may constitute unlawful […]

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JM
Of Counsel

Concerted/Protected Activities: Single Employee Complaints

We frequently confront the question of whether  complaints by a single employee to a supervisor about some condition of employment, such as double standard with respect to disciplinary actions against  employees or favoritism in  job assignments, constitute concerted/protected activity. Concerted/protected activities by an  employee are those engaged in with or on the authority of other […]

JM
Of Counsel

NLRB’s Email Rule May Be Coming to an End

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 […]

Extraction of Agency Fees from Non-Consenting Public Employees is Unconstitutional

In Janus v AFSCME , U.S. No. 16-1466, the Supreme Court held on June 27, 2018 that  States and public sector unions  may no longer extract agency fees from non-consenting employees. Such extractions violate the employees’ First Amendment  right to free speech. The decision, delivered by Justice Alito and joined by Justices Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas […]

JM
Of Counsel

Supreme Court Blesses Employers’ Use of Class Action Waivers

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 […]

BH
Of Counsel