Richard F. VitarelliBlog Posts
NLRB Orders Mail Ballot Election Delayed by Pandemic Concerns to ProceedThe National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has lifted its stay of a mail ballot election ordered by a Regional Director and denied the employer’s Request for Review of the Regional Director’s decision, based on the COVID-19 pandemic, to order a mail, rather than manual, ballot election. Atlas Pacific Engineering Company, 27-RC-258742 (May 8, 2020). On... Continue ReadingMay 13, 2020 |
NLRB Orders Mail Ballot Election Delayed by Pandemic Concerns to ProceedThe National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has lifted its stay of a mail ballot election ordered by a Regional Director and denied the employer’s Request for Review of the Regional Director’s decision, based on the COVID-19 pandemic, to order a mail, rather than manual, ballot election. Atlas Pacific Engineering Company, 27-RC-258742 (May 8, 2020). On... Continue Reading…May 13, 2020 |
NLRB Temporarily Changes Standard Notice-Posting Remedy during COVID-19 PandemicThe National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is beginning to address procedural disruptions arising due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 6, 2020, without a request from any party to a case, the NLRB “announce[d] . . . a temporary change in the Board’s standard notice-posting remedy to adapt to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.” The temporary... Continue Reading…May 11, 2020 |
NLRB Temporarily Changes Standard Notice-Posting Remedy during COVID-19 PandemicThe National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is beginning to address procedural disruptions arising due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 6, 2020, without a request from any party to a case, the NLRB “announce[d] . . . a temporary change in the Board’s standard notice-posting remedy to adapt to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.” The temporary... Continue ReadingMay 11, 2020 |
GC Memo Summarizes NLRB Decisions About Duty To Bargain in Emergency SituationsPeter B. Robb, the General Counsel (GC) of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a Memorandum setting forth summaries of NLRB decisions about unionized employers’ duty to bargain in emergency situations. Memorandum GC 20-04 “Case Summaries Pertaining to the Duty to Bargain in Emergency Situations” (March 27, 2020). The Memorandum was issued in... Continue ReadingMarch 28, 2020 |
NLRB Delays Election Rule Start Date to June 1 at Judge’s RequestThe National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has delayed implementation of its new representation case rules to June 1, 2020. (For more on the new rule, which was supposed to be effective on April 16, 2020, see Labor Board: Upcoming New Election Rule Relieves Employers of Many Burdens of Quickie Election Rule.) The NLRB previously announced... Continue ReadingMarch 22, 2020 |
Virginia Opens Door to Collective Bargaining for Public EmployeesThe Virginia General Assembly has passed legislation that paves the way for Virginia counties, cities, and towns to adopt local ordinances or resolutions authorizing collective bargaining with labor unions on behalf of public officers and employees. The bill is awaiting Governor Ralph Northam’s signature. The Code of Virginia currently provides that no state, county, city,... Continue ReadingMarch 19, 2020 |
NLRB: Confidentiality, Cell Phone, Electronic Communications Policies Lawful under NLRB’s Work Rules DecisionsApplying its decisions in Boeing Co. (365 NLRB No. 154) and Caesars Entertainment Corp. (368 NLRB No. 143), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has overturned an Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) finding that an employer unlawfully maintained overbroad Confidential Information, Electronic Communications, and Cell Phone Policies, and unlawfully terminated its employee for violation of the... Continue ReadingMarch 1, 2020 |
Is Union Organizing Among Tech Workers Ready to Breakout?White-collar, high-tech workers at Kickstarter in Brooklyn have voted 47-36 for union representation by the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) in an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. (Five eligible voters did not vote.) The trailblazing win could inspire similar employees in the tech industry to channel their social activism and... Continue ReadingFebruary 29, 2020 |
Union Membership Rates Continue to DeclineBy almost every measure, union membership rates continued its steady decline in 2019, according to the latest statistics on unionization rates in the United States from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The overall union membership rate in 2019 was 10.3%, down by 0.2% from 2018. The total number of unionized workers in 2019 was... Continue ReadingJanuary 31, 2020 |