By Edwin S. Hopson
On January 27, 2012, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor issued its report on union membership for 2011. It concluded that the percentages and numbers for 2011 was largely unchanged from those for 2010. The overall “union membership rate” – that is the percent of wage and salary workers who were ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
As we reported in a blog article on December 6, 2011, NLRB Republican Member Brian Hayes was being investigated by the NLRB’s Inspector General over an allegation that he had been enticed to resign his position as a Member of the Board, which at the time would have reduced the number of board members to two, leaving the Board unable ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
On January 26, 2012, Sam Hananel of the Associated Press reported that Mark Pearce, Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, plans to push for the issuance of more rules making it easier for unions to organize employers under the National Labor Relations Act. The Board in December, 2011, had already issued final ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
On January 24, 2012, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that in Fiscal Year 2011, it received a record 99,947 charges of employment discrimination. During that year it also obtained $455.6 million in relief through its administrative program as well as litigation. EEOC also announced that, as in ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
It is that time of year again!
Most employers, with some exceptions (such as those with 10 or fewer employees during all of the previous year), must post their OSHA 300 log from February 1, 2012 to April 30, 2012 "in each establishment in a conspicuous place or places where notices to employees are customarily posted. You must ensure ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
On January 20, 2012, the NLRB’s Acting General Counsel, Lafe Solomon, in a press release announced a revision to the Board’s existing policy regarding deferral of unfair labor practice charges to arbitration under collective bargaining agreements. Citing concerns about delays in processing grievances to arbitration ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
On January 13, 2012, the National Federation of Independent Business announced in a press release that it was seeking to amend its legal action filed in federal court on September 28, 2011, against the National Labor Relations Board over its new notice posting regulation, to include a new claim that the NLRB lacks the authority ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
In a case decided January 11, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a teacher at a Lutheran School could not maintain an action under the employment discrimination laws arising out of her discharge from employment. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church ...
In a decision issued January 3, 2012, a two Member NLRB, with Member Hayes recusing himself, ruled in D.R. Horton, Inc., 357 NLRB No. 184 (2012), that an employer may not require employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act to sign arbitration agreements which prevent them from pursuing class or collective action claims in court or ...
On January 4, 2012, President Obama announced three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board: Terrence Flynn, a Republican, who had earlier been nominated by the President about a year ago, but whose nomination had not been acted upon by the Democratically-controlled Senate; and Democrats Sharon Block, a Department of Labor ...