On August 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) defined a new standard for assessing whether work rules breach employees’ rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). This move may pressurize employers to fine-tune such rules to prevent infringing the act.
The National Labor Relations Act, more commonly referred to as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the basic rights of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining for better terms and conditions at work, and employ acts of concerted activity in support of their demands. This new move by the NLRB adds to the stringency of this act, focusing particularly on the company policies that can be viewed as suppressive of such rights.
The newly introduced standard introduces a burden-shifting mechanism, a legal artifact that shifts the responsibility to prove certain facts in the trial process onto the party at fault. In this case, if an employee or employees feel that certain company rules infringe upon their rights, it would be the employer’s responsibility to justify that these regulations do not violate the NLRA.
This latest development emphasizes the necessity of carefully crafting organization policies and handbooks. The language of those written documents could potentially be taken as restricting employees’ rights to collective action, leading to violations of the act. Therefore, making the documents as clear and narrowly-focused as possible, precisely addressing specific issues, is now a priority for employers.
This National Labor Relations Board’s development can present significant challenges for corporations where there is a delicate balance between maintaining operational efficiency and preserving employee rights. Consequently, it reinforces the need for strong legal counsel within corporations. These legal professionals must understand the nuances of labor law, the implications of this recent NLRB action, and how best to advise their organizations to navigate the shifting landscape.
For further details on this sensitive shift in labor law, refer to the original article here.