The National Labor Relations Board hears complaints regarding union members. But, it also has jurisdiction over complaints by non-union member who discuss conditions and terms of employment. Early in February, Pres. Trump fired the Chairman of the NLRB, Gwynne Wilcox. I wrote about that odd termination here. It was clearly an unlawful termination. The
Upon assuming office, Pres. Trump has been on a tear. He fired a member of the NLRB commission and its general counsel, both appointed by former Pres. Biden. Trunp fired Gwynne Wilcox, saying she was “far left” with a “radical record.” Long-time practice had been that the Democrat and Republican members of the Board would
A little known provision in the National Labor Relations Act provides protection to employees when they discuss “terms and conditions” of employment. The discussion must be between two or more employees. The purpose of this provision (remember, the NLRA was passed in 1935) was to protect employees who may be forming a union. But, for
These are trying times, by any standard. This veteran of Iraq is starting to have war flash backs. If your employer is not taking precautions for the coronavirus, can you as an employee do anything about it? Yes, any worker can discuss with another worker any “term and condition” of the job. That protection comes
My Cousin Vinny was a wonderful movie in many respects. One of those respects involves the cross examination by Vinny of a so-called eye witness. After close questioning, the “eye witness” admitted he had made eggs and grits while the two defendants were supposedly robbing a small, rural store. As Vinny explained, the witness could
I wrote about this McDonald’s lawsuit a couple of years ago. See my prior post here. The lawsuit represented a new approach to franchisees. For years, even decades, persons suing franchisees could not also sue the parent company. A person could sue the local McDonald’s, but not the parent company. The theory was that
T-Mobile has work rules including: 1) Maintain a positive work environment, 2) No arguing or fighting; respect co-workers, 3) no photography, or video or audio recording, and 4) no access to electronic information by non-approved persons. The National Labor Relations Board found these four rules to violate the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRA allows
Sometimes, the San Antonio Express-News just does not get the story straight. In a story, entitled “Franchisees Fear a Chain of Ruin,” the report suggests the NLRB has made drastic changes to the law regarding joint employers. See San Antonio Express-News report. The NLRB has done nothing like that. See my prior post about
McDonald’s hamburger chain is facing the first test of a new approach to franchise workers. The new approach started with a NLRB decision last Summer that found in certain cases, the parent franchisor could be responsible for employment decisions made by the franchisee. See my comment about that decision here.
The McDonald’s case started
In a recent ruling, the National Labor Relations Board has adopted a new standard regarding joint employers. Joint employers is a relatively new creation in the area of labor and employment law. Joint employers, as the name suggests, refers to separate employers both being employers of the same employee. Many years ago, I worked on