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On June 18, the National Labor Relations Board launched its new
website directed at non-union employees. The website, www.nlrb.gov/concerted-activity, is attached
and directs readers to the Board's agency website. The agency
website, www.nlrb.gov, details the employee rights that
are protected by the National Labor Relations Act (e.g., the right
to belong to and promote union representation) and provides
instructions about how to access the Board to obtain redress
for employer violations of the law.
The website was originally intended to accompany the Employee
Rights poster that the NLRB was set to require employers to post on
April 30. The Employee Rights poster is hung-up in
litigation.
Visitors to the website are given eleven examples of instances
where non-union employees sought assistance from the Labor Board
and achieved reinstatement to employment and damage awards. The
examples all involve instances when the Labor Board was successful
in getting discharged employees reinstated to their employment with
full back pay or obtained significant settlements (in one case,
$900,000) in return for refusing reinstatement. These examples were
as follow:
An employee was discharged for posting on her Facebook page
criticisms of her supervisor.
An employee was discharged to keep her from talking to other
employees about perceived wage rate unfairness.
Employees were discharged for walking off the job in
protest of a change in work rules.
Employees who signed a petition protesting working and living
conditions were threatened with deportation and then
discharged.
Employees were disciplined for asking to meet with a human
resource representative to complain about a supervisor who they had
discovered was a registered sex offender.
Employees were discharged for sending a protest letter
about a wage cut.
Employee who discussed her wages with another employee was
discharged
An employee was discharged for refusing to divulge the
names of the authors of an anonymous petition critical of senior
management.
Employees who signed a protest letter complaining about a wage
cut were fired.
Employees who raised safety concerns were fired.
Employees were discharged for complaining on You Tube
about unsafe working conditions.
Presumably, the Labor Board will add new examples with even more
captivating fact patterns as they occur.
Employers have been conditioned to examining each instance of
discipline or discharge to ensure that the decision has not been
tainted by illegal bias against a member of a protected class.
Employers must now include in that examination whether the decision
implicates rights protected by the National Labor Relations Act.
The Labor Board is anxious to find as many examples as
possible.
Untrained managers and supervisors and rules of conduct
that, for example, prohibit the disparagement the employer, use of
the company logo, or inappropriate conduct risk place their
employers at risk of another pin in the Labor Board's map
of malefactors.
Read my new article on the Labor Board's current campaign --
and how far it will go -- to educate non-union employees on
their rights under the National Labor Relations Act in the June
15 issue of HREonline.
This article is for general information and does not include
full legal analysis of the matters presented. It should not be
construed or relied upon as legal advice or legal opinion on any
specific facts or circumstances. The description of the results of
any specific case or transaction contained herein does not mean or
suggest that similar results can or could be obtained in any other
matter. Each legal matter should be considered to be unique and
subject to varying results. The invitation to contact the authors
or attorneys in our firm is not a solicitation to provide
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in which such attorney is not permitted to practice.
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a full-service law firm with more than 700 attorneys in 24 offices
in the United States and internationally, offers innovative
solutions to the legal and business challenges presented by
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Issues After The Election
