Labor Law

“Unpredictable and Potentially Messy”?: NLRB Ruling Could Complicate Employers’ Workplace Investigations

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In its June 26 split decision in American Baptist Homes of the West d/b/a Piedmont Gardens and Service Employees International Union, United Healthcare Workers- West, 362 N.L.R.B. No. 139 (Case No. 32-CA-063475) (“Piedmont Gardens”), the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) adopted a new standard for union access to employers’ witness statements in discipline cases.  In so doing, the NLRB overruled the 37-year-old standard articulated in Anheuser- Busch, 237 NLRB 982 (1978), that provided a blanket exemption for the disclosure of witness statements.  Instead of a blanket rule, the majority followed the  Supreme Court’s 1979 decision in Detroit Edison v. NLRB, 440 U.S. 301 (1979), which requires a case-by-case balancing of the union’s need for the witness statements against the employer’s “legitimate and substantial confidentiality interests.”

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Are You Breaking The Rules? NLRB General Counsel Issues Extensive Report On Employer Rules and Handbooks

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On March 18, 2015, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a report (General Counsel Memorandum GC 15-04) summarizing recent NLRB enforcement action regarding many common employment policies. The report is relevant to nearly all private employers, regardless of whether they have union represented employees.  It is troubling because it finds that many seemingly innocuous, sensible employer handbook provisions and policies are unlawful because they could potentially be interpreted to chill employees’ rights to engage in concerted protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act.

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Can Anyone Stop Them? NLRB’s New “Quickie” Union Election Rules Set To Take Effect April 14.

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On December 12, 2014 the NLRB adopted new union election rules, claiming that they will “modernize and streamline the process for resolving representation disputes.”  These rules will become effective April 14th of this year.

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Franchisors Beware: NLRB Seeking to Super-Size Joint Employer Liability

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The National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) General Counsel’s Office has again signaled its commitment to expanding the scope of the current test for joint employment. In a move that could have implications for a broad array of franchise relationships, on December 19, 2014, the General Counsel of the NLRB announced that it has issued complaints against both McDonald’s franchisees and McDonald’s USA, the franchisor, as a joint employer. The decision to name McDonald’s as a respondent is consistent with the General Counsel’s recent advocacy that the current joint employment standard is too narrow.

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“Ambush Election Rules” or Big Win for Labor Unions? Either Way, Changes May Be in Store for the Union Organizing Process

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With a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) issued earlier this month, the National Labor Relations Board’s controversial proposed regulations on union elections are once again making headlines. A near reincarnation of a 2011 proposal that was ultimately struck down, the proposed regulations look to “streamline” the union election process. The changes, however, make some substantive revisions that may negatively impact employers. READ MORE →

The High Cost of Hiring Unpaid Interns

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Given the difficulty of finding a job in today’s economy, unpaid internships are becoming increasingly popular, particularly for students looking to gain resume-boosting experience. Yet just because someone is willing to work for free and will derive some benefit from an unpaid internship, it does not make it legal under state and federal law. Class litigation regarding unpaid interns is on the rise, and likely will increase even more given the recent ruling in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures.  READ MORE →

Labor Courts in Germany extend Employer’s Rights to Monitor and Control Employee IT Devices

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In a series of recent verdicts since 2011, Higher Labor Courts in Germany have increased the employer’s scope to monitor and control employees’ use of provided company IT and to sanction breaches of contract and statutory law discovered hereby. While the protection of the employee’s privacy and right to self-determination regarding his personal data had been the focus of the jurisdiction in the past, labor law jurisdiction has now strengthened the employer’s rights of ownership (as to their company IT) and of profession. This enables employers to track unlawful action committed by their employees on electronic devices in a more efficient way and will support employers particularly in the maintenance of their business operations, in litigation procedures against employees as well as in internal company (compliance) investigations.

1. Verdict by the Higher Labor Court Berlin-Brandenburg from February 16, 2011 (4 Sa 2132/10)

Until 2011, the employer’s possibility to access and control the computer of an employee, which was furnished by the employer in order for the employee to fulfill his contractual obligations, with regard to possible breaches of law depended on whether the employer had allowed the use of such computer for business purposes only or also for private use. According to lower German labor courts and German scholars, the grant of private use of company IT qualified employers as “providers of telecommunication services” in the sense of the German Telemedia Act (Telemediengesetz; “TMG”) and German Telecommunications Act (Telekommunikationsgesetz; “TKG”) to the effect that the employers were deemed to be subject to the requirements of the “secrecy of telecommunications” (Fernmeldegeheimnis). Such secrecy of telecommunication bans the respective service provider from reviewing “the contents and the detailed circumstances” of any communication that takes place via its communication channels. Lower German labor courts and German scholars argued that, due to the grant of private use of email and internet, employers could not be treated in a different way than professional providers of telecommunication services, such as AOL or T-Mobile, as the respective communication would no longer only relate to internal affairs of the company. Instead, there would be a risk that the employer takes note of private communication as well even if he intends to check business communication only. READ MORE →

California Court of Appeal Smacks Down Unfair Competition Claim Based on Cursory Pleading

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In Aleksick v. 7-Eleven, Inc., California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal provided a stark reminder that claims brought under California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”) must specifically invoke an underlying law or public policy in order to be properly pled.  The plaintiff in Aleksick alleged that 7-Eleven, which provides payroll services to its franchisees, used a payroll system that improperly converted partial hours worked from minutes to hundredths of an hour.  According to the plaintiff, this practice of “truncating” hours shorted employees a few seconds of time for every converted partial hour and thereby violated the UCL, which prohibits “any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice.”  The plaintiff’s complaint, however, did not specify any underlying Labor Code section as a basis for plaintiff’s UCL claim.

The court affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment for 7-Eleven on two grounds.  First, the court held that the plaintiff’s complaint failed to specifically allege a statutory predicate for the UCL claim of “unlawfulness,” and that plaintiff’s failure in this regard constituted a forfeiture of her UCL claim.  Second, the court held that, even absent forfeiture of the UCL claim, the claim necessarily failed against 7-Eleven because 7-Eleven was not the plaintiff’s employer.  Rather, under both the applicable Wage Order and the common law, the individual franchisee was the plaintiff’s employer.  As the court observed, only the employer has the duty to pay wages.  Thus, the plaintiff could not assert a UCL claim against 7-Eleven, whether based on an assertion of “unfair” or “unlawful” business practices.

Aleksick is a helpful decision for employers because it reinforces a pleading rule that is not always followed by plaintiffs’ attorneys: complaints alleging UCL claims must specifically invoke the statutory or public policy bases underlying the UCL claims.  It also could cause plaintiffs’ attorneys to think twice before naming franchisors in lawsuits involving allegations of unpaid wages.

New Decision Rejects D.R. Horton Reasoning

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A new ruling from the Northern District of California, Morvant v. P.F. Chang’s Bistro, Inc. (May 7, 2012), confirms the enforceability of class action waivers despite contrary California law and the National Labor Relations Board’s opinion in D.R. Horton. READ MORE →

The New York Court of Appeals Latest Word on Bonus Compensation Disputes

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The case of Ryan v. Kellogg Partners Institutional Services, presents a scenario familiar to many employers – a former employee claims that he is entitled to bonus compensation based upon oral assurances he was given by senior management, while his employer responds that the employee has no right to any bonus because bonuses are discretionary. Despite upholding the employee’s claim for a bonus, the New York Court of Appeals in Ryan actually reaffirmed the well-established New York principle that employees have no legal right to unvested, discretionary bonuses. Significantly, the Court of Appeals confirmed that properly drafted discretionary bonus policies could vitiate a bonus claim, but that the at-will statements in the employment application and handbook that Kellogg was relying upon simply did not meet the standard. The Ryan Court also restated its previous holding in Truelove v. Northeast Capital & Advisory, explaining that discretionary bonuses linked to an employer’s financial success do not constitute “wages” under the New York Labor Law, and that a bonus does not vest and become earned until the conditions of the employer’s bonus plan are met, which may include the requirement that the employee be employed by the employer at the time the bonus is paid.