Employee Handbooks Remain Under Board Attack
During the Obama administration, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) stringently reviewed employee handbooks of nonunionized employers to determine whether particular policies infringed on employees’ rights to engage in concerted activity protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or the Act). While the Trump Board relaxed such scrutiny, the Biden Board has returned to the approach taken Obama era with a vengeance. A recent decision from an administrative law judge (ALJ) for the Board highlights the NLRB’s aggressive stance of invalidating employers’ workplace rules if they result in any potential infringement on an employee’s concerted activity. Starbucks Corp. v. Workers United, Case 28-CA-289622, slip op. (ALJ June 7, 2024) , arises out of a union’s attempt to organize Starbucks employees and the company’s termination of several employees and other alleged unfair labor practices occurring at several Phoenix-area stores in order to curb union ...