Management Memo

Our colleagues Maxine Neuhauser and Amy E. Hatcher have written a client advisory: "Employer Posting Requirements Under New Jersey Law."

Following is an excerpt:

The list of employee notices that New Jersey employers are required to post has grown this year. Accordingly, as 2012 comes to a close, New Jersey employers should take some time to review the notification requirements relating to employees' workplace rights and responsibilities under state law.

Employers are mandated under New Jersey law to display official posters informing their employees of the law relating to ...

On Friday, November 16, I participated in a free 75-minute webinar discussion with Lafe E. Solomon, Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.  The webinar was moderated by Terence H. McGuire of the Practical Law Company.  We discussed:

• Factors that the NLRB considers when deciding whether to prosecute unfair labor practices based on these employment practices.
• Legal considerations surrounding these employment practices besides compliance with the National Labor Relations Act.
• The NLRB’s stance on what is and is not a lawful at will disclaimer.
• Social Media ...

By: Steven M. Swirsky and Paul H. Burmeister

In yet another foray into non-union workplace issues, on October 31, 2012, the Office of the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a pair of Advice Memoranda regarding similar issues with respect to ‘employment at-will’ policies contained in employee handbooks. (Rocha Transportation, 32-CA-086799 PDF and SWH Corporation d/b/a Mimi’s Café, 28-CA-084365 PDF). At issue in each case was at-will disclaimer language in an employee handbook which prohibits the employer’s representatives ...

2012 has been a year of turmult and shocking developments and 2013  looks to be no different.  From at-will agreements to Facebook firings to employer property rights and employee access and more, the NLRB has kept employers on their toes.  Stay sure footed by getting an update straight from Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon and Management Memo Editor Steven Swirsky in a 75 Minute Webinar presented by the Practical Law Company discussing:

• Factors that the NLRB considers when deciding whether to prosecute unfair labor practices based on these employment practices.
• Legal ...

I wrote the October 2012 edition of Take 5: Views You Can Use, a newsletter published by the Labor and Employment practice of Epstein Becker Green. 

In it, I outline five actions that non-union employers should take to retain their union-free status in 2013:

1. Assess your company's vulnerability.
2. Ensure that company policies are compliant and pro-company.
3. Analyze and arrange your company's workforce to avoid micro-units.
4. Be prepared to respond at the earliest signs of union organizing.
5. Watch for NLRB developments directed at non-union employers.

The following is an excerpt:

With the ...

By: Paul H. Burmeister

In one of the first rulings by the NLRB in a case involving social media, the Board agreed with the order of the ALJ that the firing of an employee for certain Facebook posts were not protected, concerted activity under the NLRA and the termination did not violate Section 7 of the Act. Karl Knauz Motors, Inc.  (PDF)

The employee was a salesman who worked for a BMW dealership in Lake Bluff, Illinois.  He posted several pictures and comments on his Facebook page about two recent events concerning his employer. First, the employee complained about the refreshments ...

By Paul Burmeister

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) has ruled that negotiations between the Hotel Bel-Air and UNITE HERE Local 11 were not at impasse when the employer implemented its last, best final offer, which included severance payments to union employees. Hotel Bel-Air, 358 NLRB 152 (September 27, 2012). The NLRB upheld the ALJ’s order for the employer to bargain with the Union and to rescind all the signed severance agreements containing a waiver of future employment with the Hotel Bel-Air.

The Hotel Bel-Air is a luxury hotel located in Los Angeles. The Hotel ...

Seemingly ignoring the requirements for employers to keep a harassment free workplace and disregarding their right to keep a respectful and orderly environment, last week in Fresenius USA Manufacturing, Inc. the NLRB found that the company committed an unfair labor practice by terminating an employee who admitted to using vulgar and threatening language.

Overturning an administrative law judge’s decision, the NLRB ordered Fresenius to reinstate the pro-union employee who referred to the employees leading a union decertification effort as “Pussies” and ...

It seems with each passing month the National Labor Relations Board or its Acting General Counsel opens yet another new front on its assault on non-union employers.  A trend has emerged which puts labor law in conflict with standard employment practices.  From hire, to control of the workplace and employer property, to the manner post-termination disputes are handled, the NLRB is directing employers to ignore conventional wisdom, and often times other legal mandates, to alter the way they deal with their employees.

Much attention has been given to the NLRB’s more direct pro-union ...

Over the past year the NLRB has issued a series of decisions which, taken together, mark a dramatic shift in the property rights of employers and expand the right of employees seeking to use their employer’s property to organize.

Two decades ago, in Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers had a right to limit or deny non-employee union organizers access to their property provided the denial was nondiscriminatory and consistent with state law.  For almost four decades, following its decision in Tri-County Medical Center, Inc., the NLRB has maintained that ...