The National Labor Relations board once again flip-flopped the rules on whether a company must continue to withhold dues once a union contract expires. Reversing the 2019 Valley Hospital decision, an employer must continue to honor a dues-checkoff arrangement established in a contract until either parties have reached a successor collective-bargaining agreement or a valid overall bargaining impasse permits unilateral action by the employer.
At the end of September the NLRB reversed a prior position in a T-Mobile email use case. Originally, an employee who emailed all her colleagues about a union meeting using the company’s email system was held to have been lawfully terminated for policy violations. The Board revisited the decision and determined the enforcement was selective and therefore unlawful. In footnotes, board member David Prouty suggested that the current pro-employer position on email may soon change.
In another effort to bolster Big Labor, the NLRB just reduced the damages charged to a union from a ULP settlement agreement to $500,000 from the original $13.3 million! Quite the handout to the United Mine Workers, and a signal of what to expect going forward from this board.
The deadline to file comments related to the joint employer rule has been extended to December 7th.
NLRB General Counsel Abruzzo is turning up the heat on employers by streamlining the process of applying Section 10(j) injunctive relief. A memo distributed to all field offices on October 20th explained the measures.
