First few Article Sentences
As you may know, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been busy rewriting the rules on union organizing, employee use of e-mails, NLRB jurisdiction and workplace investigations. The latest salvo impacting hospitals' day-to-day operations is the March 18, 2015 issuance of the NLRB General Counsel's Memorandum GC 15-04 ("GC Memo" or "Memo"), which outlines employer handbook policies and rules that NLRB investigators and regional offices will consider to be lawful and unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA"). The GC Memo pertains to policies and rules that are often found in employee handbooks in both union and non-union workplaces. NLRB review of such policies often arises because a discharged employee may seek reversal of the discharge, or because a union that has lost a representation election seeks to overturn the loss by claiming the employer maintained employer policies that hindered union organizing.
In essence, the maintenance of a work rule or policy violates the NLRA if the rule has a chilling effect on employees' statutory right to engage in concerted activity for mutual aid or protection (i.e., Section 7 activity). If a rule does not explicitly prohibit Section 7 activity, it will still be found unlawful if (1) employees would reasonably construe the rule's language to prohibit Section 7 activity; (2) the rule was promulgated in response to union or other Section 7 activity; or (3) the rule was actually applied to restrict the exercise of Section 7 rights. The Memo reviews eight problem areas often found in employer policy documents, including handbooks, and gives examples of lawful and unlawful policies.