The National Labor Relations Board has seemingly been all over the map in recent weeks. Here’s just a partial list of topics and decisions they have bounced around on. The board –
- asserted jurisdiction over religions educational institutions.
- reinforced the Piedmont Gardens decision severely limiting witness protection and confidentiality
- issued an invitation for briefs to re-examine the issue of unionizing temp workers
- determined that tugboat captains (in charge of the boat and its crew) are not supervisors
A Sixth Circuit Court decision sent mixed signals by ruling that a tribal casino did not fall under the jurisdiction of the NLRA, while at the same time stating that NLRA jurisdiction would apply in this case because of a 2-1 decision by a different three-judge panel in a case involving a different tribe three weeks earlier. There were a few glimmers of hope in governmental/court action. The D.C. Circuit Court overruled the recent NLRB decision in AT&T that charged the company with a ULP when the company attempted to restrict its employees from wearing t-shirts denigrating the company. The same court also backstopped employer rights to call the police during a protest. Both of these decisions were thin-margined, but they do suggest that employers need not tolerate offensive imagery when it threatens customer relations, nor refrain from seeking police intervention to maintain civil order, in an effort to comply with Section 7. Texas legislators stepped up to the plate to protect franchisors from the DOL attempts to create joint-employer nightmares, although it is not yet certain how the exemptions created by the amendment to the Texas Labor Code will end up being interpreted in the end.