Expert Analysis

• Garmon Defense Finds New Relevance As NLRB Stays Active

  

  With a more muscular National Labor Relations Board at work, employers should recall that they have access to a powerful yet underutilized defense to state law employment and tort claims established under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon, say Alex Meier and Cary Reid Burke at Seyfarth.

• Eye On Compliance: Cross-State Noncompete Agreements

  

  The Federal Trade Commission's recent proposal to limit the application of worker noncompete agreements is a timely reminder for prudent employers to reexamine their current policies and practices around such covenants — especially businesses with operational footprints spanning more than one state, says Jeremy Stephenson at Wilson Elser.

• Conducting Employee Investigations That Hold Up In Court

  

  A recent Maryland federal court decision, which held that Elite Protective Services failed to provide a worker under internal investigation with protections required by his collective bargaining agreement, highlights important steps employers should take to ensure the conclusions of internal reviews will withstand judicial scrutiny, say attorneys at Venable.

• Memo Shows NLRB Intends To Protect Race Talk At Work

  

  A newly released memo from the National Labor Relations Board advising that discussions of racism at work count as protected concerted activity should alert employers that worker retaliation claims may now face serious scrutiny not only from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but also the NLRB, says Mark Fijman at Phelps Dunbar.

• Cannabis Co. Considerations For Handling A Union Campaign

  

  As employees in Connecticut and across the country increasingly unionize, cannabis employers must understand the meaning of neutrality and the provisions of labor peace agreements to steer clear of possible unfair labor charges, say attorneys at Shipman & Goodwin.

• Handling Severance Pact Language After NLRB Decision

  

  Following the National Labor Relations Board’s recent ruling that severance agreements with broad confidentiality or nondisparagement provisions violate federal labor law, employers may want to consider whether such terms must be stripped from agreements altogether, or if there may be a middle-ground approach, says Daniel Pasternak at Squire Patton.

• Eye On Compliance: Service Animal Accommodations

  

  A Michigan federal court's recent ruling in Bennett v. Hurley Medical Center provides guidance on when employee service animals must be permitted in the workplace — a question otherwise lacking clarity under the Americans with Disabilities Act that has emerged as people return to the office post-pandemic, says Lauren Stadler at Wilson Elser.

• Joint Employment Mediation Sessions Are Worth The Work

  

  Despite the recent trend away from joint mediation in employment disputes, and the prevailing belief that putting both parties in the same room is only a recipe for lost ground, face-to-face sessions can be valuable tools for moving toward win-win resolutions when planned with certain considerations in mind, says Jonathan Andrews at Signature Resolution.

• A Look At NLRB GC's Memos On Misleading Employees

  

  The National Labor Relations Board's general counsel recently confirmed her plan to limit what she considers coercive and misleading statements by employers during union organizing drives, and provided some guidance for employers that, if recognized and followed, may keep a company out of legal trouble with the NLRB, says Rebecca Leaf at Miles & Stockbridge.

• Water Cooler Talk: Termination Lessons From 'WeCrashed'

  

  Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs at Troutman Pepper chat with Fulton Bank’s Allison Snyder about how the show “WeCrashed” highlights pitfalls companies should avoid when terminating workers, even when the employment is at will.

• Labor Law Reform Is Needed For Unions To Succeed

  

  Though support for unions is at an unprecedented high, declining union membership levels expose the massive disconnect between what Americans want from unionizing and what they are actually able to achieve, primarily due to the disastrous state of U.S. labor law, say Sharon Block and Benjamin Sachs at Harvard Law School.

• How Cos. Can Avoid Sinking In The Union Organizing Storm

  

  Faced with a new NLRB administration and pandemic-fueled employee unrest, employers must deal with the perfect storm for union organizing by keeping policies up-to-date and making sure employees’ voices are heard, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

• Eye On Compliance: Employee Biometric Data Privacy

  

  Following recent high-profile developments in Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act lawsuits and an increase in related legislation proposed by other states, employers should anticipate an uptick in litigation on this issue — and several best practices can help bolster compliance, say Lisa Ackerman and Laura Stutz at Wilson Elser.