Tag Archives: NLRA

August 14, 2017

Only Certain Types of Speech Are Protected In The Workplace

This past week, talk abounds over Google’s firing of a software engineer after he posted a lengthy memo criticizing the company’s diversity policy and culture on the company’s internal website. Google says he crossed a line and violated its Code of Conduct. The engineer says he engaged in protected speech and filed an unfair labor practice charge against Google with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The case will be interesting to follow, especially to the extent that it resolves the dispute between Google’s conduct policy and this employee’s criticisms of his former employer.

No Free Speech Guarantee

Some discussions about the Google memo have centered around the belief that employees should have free speech protections to say whatever they like, even about their employer. U.S. workers employed by private entities, however, do not have so-called free speech rights. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits Congress from making any laws that abridge the freedom of speech. But it applies only to government actions and does not prohibit private employers from limiting or taking employment actions based on what an employee says or does.

NLRA Concerted Activities Are Protected

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) guarantees employees the right to form and join unions. But it also gives employees the right to engage in other “concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.” These rights under Section 7 of the NLRA extend to protecting non-union employees who discuss and/or act together to try to improve the terms and conditions of their employment, such as their pay, benefits, policies, and workplace safety issues. Employers may not threaten, discipline, or fire employees who engage in such protected activities.

When it comes to employee memos and social media posts, content generally will be protected if it relates to or grows out of group action, such as when an individual employee solicits other employees to take action to fix work-related problems or seek improvements in the workplace. But mere griping by an individual employee will not be protected as a protected concerted activity. Additionally, even communications that would be deemed concerted activities can lose NLRA protection if they express egregiously offensive, abusive, or knowingly and malicious false statements.

When Company Policies Clash With Concerted Activities

When a company policy prohibits employees from engaging in certain conduct, such as prohibiting disparagement of the company or its managers, or restricting discussion among co-workers of confidential information, the NLRB may consider whether it restricts or “chills” employees’ Section 7 rights to engage in protected concerted activities. If the NLRB finds that a policy is overly broad and potentially restricts concerted activities, the company can be found to have violated the NLRA.

Before Discipline and Discharge

Anytime your organization seeks to discipline or terminate an employee for writing emails, posting on social media, or otherwise communicating about the company, consider the following:

Does the communication discuss with or seek to engage co-workers in relation to the terms and conditions of their employment?
Could the communication be seen as an effort to form a union or another form of group action related to the workplace?
Is the employee reaching out to a third party, such as the media or union organizers, on behalf of multiple employees?
If the basis for the discipline or discharge is a company policy, is the policy narrowly defined or is it too broad so that it interferes with employees’ Section 7 rights?

Employers have a great deal of authority to discipline or get rid of at-will employees based on inappropriate or undesired communications or actions. Just make sure to evaluate whether employees are engaging in protected concerted activities prior to imposing a detrimental employment decision so as not to violate the NLRA.

September 11, 2015

Broader Joint-Employer Test Leads to Teamsters Win At Browning-Ferris

By Steve Gutierrez

In a previous article, we noted that the NLRB’s recent Browning-Ferris ruling was significant for those employers who use temporary or staffing agencies to provide workers. The Board set a new, broader test for joint-employer status that does not require the purported joint employer to exercise control over the workers in question. Instead, if the company has the right to exercise control over the terms and conditions of certain workers, it can be deemed a joint employer even if it never actually exercises that control. Now we can see the significance of the impact.

Based upon the joint-employer determination, the impounded ballots of the workers of Leadpoint Business Services, the entity that staffed Browning-Ferris’s California recycling plant, were counted as part of the bargaining unit, which provided a 73-17 margin in favor of representation by the Teamsters. Depending on the outcome of any objections filed by the company, the NLRB will certify the union as the collective bargaining representative for the recycling center’s workers. This allows the unit to collectively bargain over the terms and conditions of employment at that facility.

Bargaining Over Terms Of Contingent Workers

Think about this: Browning-Ferris does not “employ” the workers placed at its facility by staffing agency, Leadpoint. It doesn’t hire, pay, provide benefits to, or fire them. Yet, it will be required to sit down at the bargaining table across from the Teamsters to negotiate the terms and conditions of employment of those contingent workers over which it retains authority to control. That is the result of being found a joint employer of the bargaining-unit workers.

Extension of Joint-Employer Test to Other Contexts?

Joint-employer status is a critical determination for companies that use contingent workers as well as for franchises. And, it can apply not only in the union context, but also in other employment law contexts, such as for pay purposes under the Fair Labor Standards Act or for discrimination under Title VII. Even though the standards and policy behind a joint-employer relationship under other employment laws may differ from those behind the National Labor Relations Act, this new, broader test will likely be asserted in these other contexts in order to bring in franchisors and companies that use contingent workers as potentially liable parties.

Appeal Over Joint-Employer Test Coming?

Because of the high stakes involved in this ruling, it would not be surprising if Browning-Ferris (which is part of Republic Services, Inc.) appealed the NLRB’s ruling, taking its case to the applicable court of appeals. Another option is that after the union is certified, Browning-Ferris could refuse to bargain with the Teamsters which would lead to more proceedings before the Board, and ultimately, the courts. Given that the Board has already ruled in favor of the union on this matter, the company will likely have a better chance seeking review by circuit judges. Either way, this matter is probably not over.

Stay tuned and we will let you know what develops further. What we do know, is the NLRB will not sit idle and we should expect it to use its power to push the envelope in favor of the nation’s unions.

Click here to print/email/pdf this article.

October 28, 2014

Defeating Micro-Units: Employer Strategies to Challenge Smaller Bargaining Units

By Brian Mumaugh

Unions are organizing smaller segments of an entire workforce in order to get their foot in the door and keep organizing efforts alive. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) has approved so-called micro-units, setting employers up for difficult battles over appropriate bargaining units in the future. Employers should think about the possibility of seeing a micro-unit proposed in their workforce—and how to avoid them.

Unions Can More Easily Win Representation For Smaller Groups

As unions press to increase their membership in the United States, unions are looking for new ways to organize workers and remain relevant. Organizing large workforces requires unions to expend significant resources – money, personnel and time – to collect signatures from at least 30% of the proposed bargaining unit to trigger an election (some unions want to see upwards of 70% signing authorization cards before petitioning for an election). Then additional resources are needed to get out the vote to ensure a majority of votes cast are in favor of the union. Large organizing campaigns also give the company time to mount an anti-union campaign.

Organizing micro-units, however, can be done relatively quickly, cheaply and often without much response from the company. Think about it – organizing a unit of 30 workers in a single department may need only one or two union organizers to persuade the 15 to 20 employees needed to win the organizing campaign. Before you know it, you’ve got a segment of your workforce represented by a third party with whom you must collectively bargain. This can lead to multiple micro-units at your company represented by different unions and the headaches multiply.

Parameters For Micro-Units Are Evolving

The NLRB has discretion in representation cases to determine the appropriate bargaining unit, whether an employer unit, craft unit, plant unit or subdivision thereof, pursuant to section 9(b) of the NLRA. Although decided on a case-by-case basis, the main, long-standing factor for determining an appropriate unit was the “community of interest” of the employees involved. In 2011, however, the Board significantly changed that analysis in a case called Specialty Healthcare, allowing the unit petitioned-for by the union to govern except in those situations where the employer can establish by “overwhelming evidence” that the requested unit is inappropriate. This new approach places a high burden on employers who wish to challenge the make-up of the unit proposed by the union.

In recent months, the Board has decided a couple of micro-unit cases that offer some guidance on what it takes to challenge a micro-unit. In a case involving a Macy’s Department store in Massachusetts, the Board deemed appropriate a micro-unit made up of only cosmetics and fragrances employees at the store. Macy’s Inc., 361 NLRB No. 4 (July 22, 2014). The store argued that the unit was too narrow and that the appropriate unit in a retail store context is a “wall-to-wall unit” or, alternatively, all selling employees at the store. The Board did not agree. It concluded that the cosmetics and fragrances employees were a readily identifiable group that shared a community of interest not shared by other store employees. Factors weighing in favor of the micro-unit included the fact that the cosmetics and fragrances employees were in the same department and were supervised by the same managers. In addition, there was little regular contact between the cosmetics and fragrances employees and other store employees. The NLRB found that Macy’s had not met the high burden of showing that other employees should be included in the unit because they did not share an “overwhelming community of interest.”

Coming to the opposite conclusion, however, the Board rejected a micro-unit of sales associates who sold shoes at the Manhattan Bergdorf Goodman store. The union had petitioned for the unit to be made up of 35 women’s shoes sales associates in the Salon shoes department (high end designer shoes) and 11 women’s Contemporary shoes sales associates in the Contemporary Sportswear department (modestly priced shoes). The Board concluded the proposed unit was inappropriate because the two shoe departments were located on separate floors, did not share the same supervisors and managers, did not have any cross-over or interchange between employees and did not have much contact with employees in other departments storewide. The Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. d/b/a Bergdorf Goodman, 361 NLRB No. 11 (July 28, 2014).

Strategies for Attacking Micro-Units

The Macy’s and Bergdorf Goodman cases offer some guidance to help employers avoid union organizing of micro-units. Strategies to consider now, before a union organizing campaign begins, include:

Combining departments or job classifications that share skills or tasks
Cross-training and cross-utilizing workers across departments, classifications or locations
Allowing for promotional and transfer opportunities across department and organizational lines
Revising supervisory and managerial structures so that more employees report to the same managers
Maintaining pay and bonus structures common to all employees or for all in a larger unit.

Micro-units can be a game-changer when it comes to union organizing so employers have to change their own tactics to combat such bargaining units. Taking time now to change organizational and reporting structures can go a long way in overcoming a proposed micro-unit in the future.

Click here to print/email/pdf this article.

August 20, 2013

NLRB Judge Strikes Down Employer’s Dress Code Following “Slave” Shirt Discipline

By Brian Mumaugh

What is wrong with an employer’s dress code that prohibits clothing that displays vulgar or obscene phrases, remarks or images which may be racially, sexually or otherwise offensive as well as clothing that displays words or images that are derogatory to the Company? It is overly broad and interferes with employees’ Section 7 rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act) to engage in union and/or protected concerted activity, according to an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The ALJ’s review of the dress code came after the employer disciplined an employee who wore a T-shirt with the word “slave” on it next to a picture of a ball and chain and the employee’s time clock number. Dismissing the employer’s argument that the shirt would be racially offensive to visitors who toured its facility, the ALJ found that the employer violated the Act by sending the employee home without pay to change his “slave shirt.”

The History of the “Slave Shirt”

Mark Gluch was a long time employee of automotive parts manufacturer Alma Products Company and a vigorous supporter of the union representing his bargaining unit. The 2012 incident that gave rise to this case occurred when Gluch wore the “slave shirt” to work during a period of contentious negotiations for a new union contract. The origin of the shirt, however, dated back to 1993 when company employees developed and paid for the “slave shirts” to send the company a message during an earlier round of difficult contract negotiations. The shirts resurfaced in 1996 when the bargaining unit employees wore them while picketing during a strike. Immediately following the strike, as many as 30% of the unit employees wore the “slave shirts” to work on any given Friday. No discipline or policy infraction was noted or enforced at that time.

Company Seeks to Avoid Racially Offensive Shirt

When a new president and CEO, Alan Gatlin, took over for Alma Products in 2005, he noticed employees wearing the “slave shirt.” Finding the shirts to be racially offensive, he felt embarrassed that customers and visitors to the facility would see employees wearing the shirt and be offended. He testified that in his view, the shirts did not reflect well on the Company with customers as they tried to get new business. Gatlin asked the human resources manager to draft a dress code policy which was implemented in early 2006. The dress code policy did not specifically reference the “slave shirt” but included general prohibitions against clothing that displayed “vulgar/obscene phrases, remarks or images which may be racially, sexually or otherwise offensive and clothing displaying words or images derogatory to the Company . . .” The policy also stated “[i]f you are uncertain whether an article of clothing is appropriate under this policy, follow the old adage of better safe than sorry and refrain from wearing it at work.”

After implementing the dress code in 2006, it appears that employees seldom wore the “slave shirt” to work. However, during difficult union contract negotiations in April 2012, Gluch and other employees began wearing pro-union shirts and pins and Gluch wore the “slave shirt” to work. Gluch’s supervisor gave Gluch the option of removing the shirt or turning it inside out so that the writing would not be visible. When Gluch refused to do so, he was sent home without pay for wearing the shirt.

ALJ Rejects Company’s Concerns About Racial Discrimination

The union filed an unfair labor practice charge claiming, among other things, that the policy and the Company’s enforcement of the policy, violated the Act. The Company argued that the shirt’s “slave” reference was offensive to African-Americans due to the history of slavery in the United States. Noting that an important buyer from Chrysler was African-American as was a new production supervisor at the facility, the Company asserted that it was entitled to discipline Gluch for wearing the racially offensive shirt. The ALJ rejected this argument, stating that the NLRB has repeatedly found employees to be protected even when they displayed messages that likened their working conditions to those of a slave. The ALJ noted that the dictionary definition of “slave” does not reference race, but instead focuses on the condition of servitude or being subject to a person or influence. In addition, given the shirt’s history that it had been worn to work over the past two decades as support for the union, the ALJ determined that it would not be seen as carrying a racial message. Moreover, the Company had a policy prohibiting racial discrimination since the 1990s, yet had failed to take any action to prohibit wearing the “slave shirt” as racially offensive prior to Gluch’s wearing of the shirt in 2012.

Key to the ALJ’s analysis of the dress code policy was its general prohibition of words or images that are derogatory to the Company. The ALJ found that the policy interfered with employees’ Section 7 activity, such as protected statements to coworkers, supervisors or third parties who deal with the Company, because it would prohibit employees from objecting to their working conditions and seeking the support of others in improving them. The dress code policy was found to be unlawfully overbroad because it prohibits all communications derogatory to the company regardless of whether the words are racially or sexually discriminatory or are protected as concerted activities under the National Labor Relations Act. In addition, by directing employees to be “safe” not “sorry,” the ALJ stated that the policy directs employees to construe the prohibition on derogatory comments such that it prohibits Section 7 activity.

Dress Code Policies That Do Not Restrict Section 7 Activity

With the NLRB (and its ALJs) striking down a variety of employer policies relating to both union and non-union employees, it is difficult to draw a bright line to determine which policies pass scrutiny and which do not. That said, employers can learn lessons from this recent decision that may help keep their dress code policy away from NLRB review. First, use specific examples of acceptable versus unacceptable attire rather than general statements that require interpretation. Second, if your workplace warrants different dress standards for different segments of employees (e.g., public-facing employees vs. behind the scenes employees), make those standards clear and justified by business necessity. Third, if you include a statement that prohibits derogatory words or images on clothing, include a statement that communications protected by Section 7 are permissible under the dress code. Finally, enforce your policy in a uniform and consistent manner, so that all dress code violations are treated similarly regardless of the employee or supervisor involved.

Disclaimer:This article is designed to provide general information on pertinent legal topics. The statements made are provided for educational purposes only. They do not constitute legal advice and are not intended to create an attorney-client relationship between you and Holland & Hart LLP. If you have specific questions as to the application of the law to your activities, you should seek the advice of your legal counsel.

November 9, 2012

NLRB: Irrelevant Union Requests Demand Timely Response

by Bradford J. Williams

A union’s request for information demands a timely response, even if the requested information is irrelevant to the collective bargaining relationship or any underlying grievance. That’s the ruling of a recent National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision expanding an employer’s duty to bargain in good faith under Section 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Employers must now timely respond to all requests for information involving bargaining unit members or risk an unfair labor practice charge.

The statutory duty to bargain in good faith includes the duty to provide unions with information needed to engage in collective bargaining or administration of a collective bargaining agreement (e.g., through a grievance procedure). As such, the NLRB has long held that employers must timely provide unions with information that is relevant and necessary to their performance as collective bargaining representatives. It has also long held that employers must timely object to requests for relevant information that might lawfully be withheld on the basis of confidentiality, privacy, or other interests.

Before its decision last month, however, the NLRB had never previously decided whether an employer must timely respond to a union’s request for information that is determined (or admitted) to be irrelevant. An employer must now timely respond.

In its October 23, 2012, decision, the NLRB held that a company engaged in interstate trucking violated Sections 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(5) of the NLRA by failing for a period of four and one-half months to respond to a union’s request for information involving the company’s drivers. This was so even though the union admitted that the request was irrelevant to any pending grievance. In its ruling, the Board characterized the requested information as “presumptively relevant” at the time the request was made because it related to unit employees. The Board determined that the company had a duty to “respond promptly” to the union’s request, even if just to explain its reason for refusing to provide the (irrelevant) requested information.

The Board’s latest decision is troubling. Employers may now no longer ignore union requests, even when the requested information is clearly irrelevant to collective bargaining or contract administration. Instead, they must promptly respond to all requests and either (a) provide the requested information, or (b) explain why it is being withheld. This is true with respect to any requests involving bargaining unit members. Employers are thus encouraged to consult counsel immediately after receiving information requests to ensure the preparation of an adequate and timely response. Failure to do so may expose employers to unfair labor practice charges and give unions leverage in ongoing negotiations or grievance proceedings.

November 5, 2012

NLRB Affirms At-Will Disclaimers

By Dora Lane and Mark Wiletsky

Most employers today provide a handbook or another document confirming employees' at-will status. Until recently, there was no question that this is a good business practice. But earlier this year, an NLRB (National Labor Relations Bureau) administrative law judge concluded in Am. Red Cross Ariz. Blood Servs. Region, No. 28-CA-23443 (Feb. 1, 2012), that such a disclaimer violated the employees’ right to engage in concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The judge reasoned that the disclaimer, which said “I further agree that the at-will employment relationship cannot be amended, modified or altered in any way,” effectively precluded employees from engaging in concerted activity (a protected right under the NLRA) to alter their at-will status.

Thankfully, the NLRB—which enforces the NLRA—has pulled back. On October 31, 2012, the NLRB issued two memos regarding the enforceability of “at-will” provisions in employee handbooks. The first memo involved a provision, stating as follows:

“No manager, supervisor, or employee at Rocha Transportation has any authority to enter into an agreement for employment for any specified period of time or to make an agreement for employment other than at-will. Only the president of the Company has the authority to make any such agreement and then only in writing.”

This provision was found permissible because it explicitly permitted the company’s president to enter into written employment agreements that modify the employment at-will relationship, and therefore included the possibility of potential modification of the at-will relationship through a CBA ratified by the president.

The second memo involved the following provision:

“No representative of the Company has authority to enter into any agreement contrary to the foregoing ‘employment at will’ relationship.”

This provision was determined to be lawful (but a closer question than the first provision) because it only highlighted the company’s policy that its own representatives cannot modify the at-will relationship and reinforced that the handbook did not create a contract of employment.

With both of those provisions, the NLRB distinguished the American Red Cross case because there the at-will employment relationship could not be altered or modified “in any way."

Bottom line: As with its position on social media policies, the NLRB appears to be splitting hairs in terms of what type of language is, and is not, a violation of the NLRA with respect to at-will disclaimers. While these two decisions suggest that the NLRB will not take an unreasonably aggressive approach in challenging at-will disclaimers, it's not a bad idea to compare your own disclaimer to the ones the NLRB approved to avoid any potential issue with the NLRB.

June 22, 2012

NLRB’s New Website

The U.S. Department of Labor received much fanfare when it rolled out its new timesheet app. In its news release of 2011 (http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/whd/WHD20110686.htm), DOL indicated that it believed the application would ensure that workers received the wages to which they were entitled.

Not to be outdone, although not as an application, the National Labor Relations Board announced that it has launched a new interactive website to describe the rights of employees to engage in protected concerted activity under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. The webpage can be found at: http://www.nlrb.gov/concerted-activity.

You will see that the NLRB details numerous case examples where it found the conduct of employers to violate the act. The interactive map serves to lead the reader to the detail of a case that provides factual detail about the violation. This is just another example of how the social media network can be used as a public relations effort to justify an agency's public purpose and to inform employees of their rights.

For more information on the NLRB or other traditional labor relations questions, feel free to send a comment or reach me directly.

Steven M. Gutierrez

April 17, 2012

NLRB Notice-Posting Requirement Indefinitely Postponed

Brian M. Mumaugh and Bradford J. Williams have been following the recent developments regarding the rule by the National Labor Relations Board, which required most employers to post a statement of rights under the National Labor Relations Act. Today the D.C. Circuit granted an emergency motion for relief, which had the effect of enjoining enforcement of the rule. More information about the D.C. Circuit's ruling and its effect on employers is available by visiting the Colorado Employment Law Blog or clicking here.