Labor & Employment Developments Blog

In a reversal of precedent, a divided National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) held yesterday that employees have a right to use their employers’ email systems for non-business purposes, including statutorily protected communications regarding the terms and conditions of their employment and regarding union organizing efforts. See Purple Communications, Inc., 361 NLRB No. 126 (December 11, 2014).  The NLRB’s ruling stemmed from a case brought by the Communications Workers of America union after it unsuccessfully attempted to organize employees of Purple Communications, Inc., a company that provides interpreting services for the deaf and hearing-impaired.  The union argued that prohibiting the company’s workers from using the company’s email system for non-business purposes and on behalf of organizations not associated with the company interfered with the CWA’s organizing efforts. 

On May 7, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) rule requiring both union and non-union employers to display posters informing employees of their right to form a union and engage in other concerted activity.

Executive Order 13496, signed in January 2009, requires all federal contractors and subcontractors to notify employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), including their right to join and support unions. The key take away is that federal contractors with $100,000 or more in federal contracts and subcontractors with $10,000 or more must post a notice in the workplace in paper form where other such notices are posted.

The always interesting LaborPains blog points out that big labor is (incredibly) trying to spin the Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts as victory for labor unions. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will release its annual report on union membership for 2009 on January 22, 2010. 

The National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation reports that union attorneys have filed 5 cases seeking to overturn the NLRB’s 2007 decision in Dana Corporation.  The Dana Corp. decision granted employees the right to file a decertification petition and force a secret ballot election within 45 days after an employer recognizes a union by card check.