The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) took two recent actions affecting union representation. In early February, it issued proposed rule changes for representation cases, when employees or unions seek a vote to determine whether employees want to form or join a union for collective bargaining. Existing rules have faced criticism…
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects employees from retaliation from their employers for union organizing and related “concerted activities.” Courts are constantly reviewing the question of what constitutes protected concerted activity. The growth of social media in recent years has led to numerous disputes over the extent of NLRA…
Federal immigration law prohibits businesses from employing individuals who do not have authorization to work in the U.S., either because they have certain types of temporary visas or because they lack legal immigration status altogether. Courts have wrestled with the question of how much protection federal and state labor laws…
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that an employer’s termination of five employees over posts to the social media service Facebook violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). In re Hispanics United of Buffalo and Ortiz, Case No. 03-CA-027872, decision and order (NLRB, Dec. 14, 2012). It rejected the…
The relationship between social media and employees’ rights is still a developing field of law, with few definitive rules in place yet. In a recent case demonstrating that uncertainty, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) considered the complaint of a person who lost his job due to comments he allegedly…
The National Labor Relations Board recently invalidated several sections of Costco’s employee manual, including its social media policy. The United Food and Commercial Workers union filed an unfair labor practices charge, contending the rules violated Section 8(a)(1) of the NLRA because they prohibited protected activities under Section 7 of the…