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February 2018

The executives of corporations have increasingly entered the political fray in one way or another.  For example, multi-national companies tend to support issues such as globalization, trade and immigration, and other companies have supported goals such as protecting the environment, ethnic diversity and gay rights.  In doing so, companies must b...
On January 5, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor set forth new guidelines establishing a "primary beneficiary test" for the legality of unpaid internships.  Seven factors will be used to determine whether the internship meets the standard, including whether training is provided that "would be similar to that which would be given in an educational env...
While the above three cases involving a return to pre-Obama NLRB precedents are perhaps the most heavily publicized, there are other less publicized but also important reversals.  Thus, the new majority has returned to earlier cases giving NLRB administrative law judges the discretion to approve settlement terms proposed by a respondent (usually the ...
In order for a union to petition the NLRB to conduct a union election, the union must establish that the election will be held in an appropriate voting unit.  During the Obama-era, in a case called Specialty Healthcare, if a union petitioned for an election among a particular group of employees, those employees shared a community of interest, and the...
In a controversial 2015 decision, a 3-2 Democratic majority NLRB ruled that indirect or even potential control over a subcontractor’s employees might lead to a joint employment relationship.  That case, Browning-Ferris, was of great concern to contractors, franchisors, and others who might be found jointly liable with another entity for that entity’s...
On December 14, 2017, the new NLRB majority overturned the Obama-era rule that placed severe limits on employer handbook and policy rules that had been declared illegal if an employee might interpret the rule as prohibiting the exercise of union or concerted activities.  Such broad rules were said to be illegal because they "chilled" legitimate union...
In late 2017, the NLRB had its first Republican majority of three members in many years.  The majority was short-lived, however, as the term of the Republican Chairman Miscimarra expired on December 15, 2017.  Miscimarra had been on the Board during the many years of Obama-era NLRB rulings, during which some 92 NLRB precedents were overturned.&n...