Vigilant Blog

News, trends and analysis in employment law, HR, safety & workers' comp

Showing posts for: Labor Relations

Mar 24 2020
COVID-19Labor Relations  

NLRB suspends elections, closes some offices in response to COVID-19

The National Labor Relations Board has temporarily suspended union representation elections until April 3, 2020. In an announcement on March 19, 2020, the Board said the temporary suspension was necessary to protect the health of its own employees and members of the public involved in elections. Also, the Board said…

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Mar 10 2020
Labor Relations  

Board issues final rule on joint employer status under NLRA

The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a final rule on how to determine whether an employer jointly employs another employer’s workers under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Historically, companies, workers, unions, and attorneys had to rely on old Board decisions to analyze whether organizations were joint employers under the…

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Nov 13 2019
Labor Relations  

Employer unlawfully surveilled workers’ pro-union Facebook page

An employer engaged in unlawful surveillance in violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by asking a worker to gather information and report back about a pro-union, private Facebook group to which other workers belonged, according to a recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board. Under the NLRA,…

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Photo of Jon Benson
Dec 17 2018
Q&AEmployee BenefitsHarassment & DiscriminationLabor RelationsWage and Hour  

Q&A: No-fault attendance policies must allow many exceptions

Question: We have a “no fault” attendance policy which assigns points for absences, tardies, and early departures. Employees are disciplined and eventually terminated if they reach a certain number of points. We know we have to allow exceptions for legally protected time off, but what if it’s unclear whether an absence is protected?  

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Photo of Karen Davis
May 23 2018
HiringLabor Relations  

ALERT: Supreme Court says new hires can waive class actions in arbitration agreements

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that employers may require new hires to agree that any employment disputes must be resolved by taking their claims to an arbitrator on an individual basis. The Court’s ruling allows employers to proactively prevent workers from later joining together to file class-wide lawsuits or arbitration…

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Photo of Kara Craig
Mar 09 2018
Harassment & DiscriminationLabor Relations  

NLRB attorney recommends dismissing Google engineer’s complaint

The National Labor Relations Board should dismiss a Google software engineer’s complaint that he was illegally fired for circulating an anti-diversity memo, according to an official opinion from a staff attorney in the Division of Advice for the Board’s Office of the General Counsel. You may recall that in August 2017, the media was…

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Photo of Sean Brown
Jul 13 2017
Q&ALabor Relations  

Employees wearing protest attire and using work email to stir the pot

Q: We have employees showing up to work with buttons that promote a minimum wage increase and using their company email accounts to organize protests of our company policies. Can we stop them from doing this?

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Photo of Karen Davis
Apr 12 2017
Affirmative ActionHarassment & DiscriminationLabor Relations  

Blacklisting rule is gone for good

As expected, President Trump signed a resolution from Congress (H.J. Res. 37) that overturns the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)’s rules implementing Executive Order 13673, “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces,” also known as the federal contractor “blacklisting” order. As a result, the rule cannot be enforced. Also, federal agencies are prohibited from ever issuing a substantially…

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Photo of Sean Brown
Nov 14 2016
Q&ALabor RelationsSafety and HealthWage and Hour  

Q&A: Are employees’ social media posts on wages and safety protected?

Question: All our employees make more than minimum wage, but we had an employee go on social media and say, “Minimum wage for this work?! How are we supposed to live off that?!” A number of other employees commented on the post and a few complained about a recent safety incident. Can we discipline the employee who lied about his pay? What can we do to address this?  

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Photo of Karen Davis
Nov 10 2016
Drug and AlcoholEmployee BenefitsLabor RelationsLeave LawsSafety and HealthWage and Hour  

Alert: 2016 ballot measures and election results will impact the workplace

With the November 8, 2016, election in our rear-view mirror, we’re reporting on three significant developments that will affect the workplace: California’s ballot measure on recreational marijuana, Washington’s ballot measure on paid sick leave and minimum wage, and the presidential election’s impact on recent federal employment law developments.

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