Activist NLRB Shockingly Overturns 76-Year-Old Precedent

Skip Sperry November 22, 2024Blog Leave a Comment

On November 13, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a landmark decision prohibiting employers from holding mandatory meetings to discuss their views on unionization, commonly known as “captive audience meetings.” This ruling overturns a 76-year-old precedent established in the 1948 Babcock & Wilcox Co. case, which permitted such meetings under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).

Historically, employers have utilized captive audience meetings as a tool to communicate their perspectives on unionization to employees during work hours.

NLRB’s Landmark Decision Reshapes Employer Work Rules: Stericycle, Inc. and Teamsters Local 628 (372 NLRB No. 113, 2023)

Skip Sperry August 17, 2023Blog Leave a Comment

In a pivotal move that again reshapes the landscape of employer-employee relations, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently issued a significant decision in the case of Stericycle, Inc. and Teamsters Local 628. This ruling (372 NLRB No. 113, 2023) ushers in a new era for evaluating employer work rules and policies, marking a departure from previous standards and a notable shift toward prioritizing employee rights. In Stericycle, the Board reviewed the decision of an administrative law judge who found that the Respondent violated Section 8(a)(1) by maintaining certain rules for its employees that addressed personal conduct,

NLRB Says College Football Players May Unionize

Skip Sperry March 28, 2014Blog Leave a Comment

In a surprising decision on March 26, the NLRB Director for Region 13 covering Illinois and Indiana issued a decision and direction of election holding Northwestern University’s college football athletes are university “employees” as defined by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) and could vote whether to be represented by a union.

The decision focused on the grant-in-aid scholarships the athletes received to fund their education. If upheld, other grant-in-aid scholarship athletes across the country may be entitled to unionize.

DoL Releases 2012 FMLA Survey Results on the Act’s 20th Anniversary

Skip Sperry February 4, 2013Blog Leave a Comment

The following is excerpted from the survey results. The full reports can be found here, here, and here.

In 2012, Abt Associates surveyed 1,812 worksites and 2,852 employees about experiences with family and medical leave. The worksite survey includes both sites that are covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and those that are not covered. The employee survey includes employees that took leave,