Compliance Stuff

  Earlier this month, the Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board ( NLRB ), William Cowen, rescinded a slew of his predecessor’s policy memoranda. While general counsel ( GC ) memoranda are not the official legal position of the   NLRB , if adopted by the Board they could have far-reaching ramifications for covered employers. New GC typically  unwind the GC Memos  of their predecessor and, in this case, the action is consistent with the overall approach of the Trump Administration to roll back actions taken by Biden appointees. By rescinding GC memoranda, Cowen has signaled that he will no longer seek to enforce actions against employers based on violations of the policies expressed in the memoranda. The action may also mean that for parties with active matters before the NLRB relating to the rescinded memos, resolution may be faster and more employer-friendly. It is important to note that because President Trump removed GC Jennifer Abruzz...

  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memo to board regional directors doubling down on her position that overbroad noncompete agreements are unlawful and asserting that certain “stay-or-pay” provisions violate employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). We’ve gathered articles on the news from SHRM and other outlets. General Counsel’s Reasoning Under stay-or-pay provisions, an employee must pay their employer if they separate from work, Abruzzo explained. Such provisions “infringe on employees’ Section 7 rights in many of the same ways that noncompete agreements do,” she wrote. Section 7 of the NLRA guarantees employees “the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection,” as well as the right “to ...