The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently affirmed the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) decision in United Parcel Service [UPS], 369 NLRB No. 1 (December 23, 2019), that set the standard for when the Board should defer to an arbitral ruling, and thus eased the burden on employers in having to potentially defend an employment action both at an arbitration proceeding as well as before the Board as part of an unfair labor practice claim.
As we reported previously, the NLRB’s ruling in UPS essentially restored the standard that had been in place before it was reversed by the Obama-era NLRB in 2014. The Board’s UPS ruling was subsequently appealed by the losing party to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which on July 8 ruled in Atkinson v. NLRB, No. 20-1680 (3d Cir. July 8, 2021) that the NLRB did not abuse its discretion and that its ruling was “consistent with the Act.”
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.