American Steel Construction, Inc. changes the language used to determine whether a group is an appropriate collective bargaining unit. The change makes it easier for unions to get representation elections, especially regarding smaller bargaining units in the Specialty Healthcare case, which created micro-units. With this new decision, smaller bargaining units may become more prevalent, resulting in more labor organizing since unions tend to win smaller units at a higher rate.
McLaren Macomb, in which the NLRB returned to a longstanding precedent holding that employers may not offer employees severance agreements that require employees to waive their rights under the National Labor Relations Act broadly. The decision involved severance agreements offered to furloughed employees that prohibited them from making statements that could disparage the employer and from disclosing the terms of the agreement itself.
This decision, in contrast, explains that simply offering employees a severance agreement that requires them to broadly give up their rights under Section 7 of the Act violates Section 8(a)(1) of the Act and is no longer appropriate.
According to attorney Jon Hyman, the Board concluded that such provisions unlawfully violate employees’ right to engage in protected concerted activity because one could hypothetically read a broad non-disparagement or confidentiality clause to limit their right to talk about wages, hours, and other terms and conditions. Employers will want to exercise caution here.
