Employers that are confronted with a union demand for recognition should expect a process weighted much more in favor of unions, according to new guidance issued by the NLRB General Counsel clarifying questions about the Cemex standard.
In the nation's first application of the NLRB's Cemex standard, an administrative law judge ordered an employer to bargain with a union after the union lost a representation election, based on the employer's unlawful labor practices.
The NLRB's Cemex ruling upends the process for requesting union elections in place for more than 50 years and is expected to make it easier for unions to win recognition as employees' bargaining representatives.
The NLRB has returned to an old standard under which work rules that do not explicitly target workers' rights may still be found to violate federal labor law if workers would "reasonably construe" them to bar organizing.
The NLRB reversed its business-friendly test for determining if a worker is an independent contractor or an employee under the NLRA and restored a more worker-friendly test established by the Obama-era NLRB in 2014.
Disciplining an employee for misconduct committed while the employee is participating in protected concerted activities may violate the NLRA, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled.
The NLRB put the brakes on the use of nondisparagement and confidentiality clauses in separation agreements if they require employees to waive their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.