Over the last few months, the Trump-appointed majority on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has hit its stride, issuing several significant decisions designed to restore some balance under cases interpreting the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA, or the Act).
Two recent decisions involve the balancing of employer property rights versus the rights of non-employees to solicit union support while on employer-owned property. In a decision issued last week, the Board ruled that an employer does not violate the Act by excluding non-employee union organizers from its parking lot even though it allows third party groups to conduct charitable solicitations. In another recent ruling, the Board overturned an Obama-era precedent that had significantly limited the rights of an employer to exclude from its property off-duty employees of its contractors.
In a third recent ruling, the Board rejected a theory advanced by former General Counsel Richard Griffin, an Obama appointee, that an employer’s misclassification of employees as independent contractors automatically violated the NLRA.
Finally, the Board has asked interested individuals and organizations to provide it with input on whether the NLRB should revisit the legal standard for determining when profane or racially offensive language loses the protection of the NLRA.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.