Non-Union Employers: Don’t Forget About the National Labor Relations Act
Many non-union employers labor under the impression that the National Labor Relations Act (”Act”) does not apply to them. The decision of Loparex LLC v. NLRB is a reminder of the Act’s broad reach. In Loparex, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the National Labor Relations Board’s (”NLRB”) determination that a company violated the National Labor Relations Act (”Act”) by restricting union organizing activity at the workplace when it took the following actions: (i) after union supporters posted material on company bulletin boards, the company issued a policy that required employees to obtain approval before placing any material on the boards; (ii) stopping employees from distributing pro-union flyers in the company’s parking lot; (iii) informing employees that passing out union buttons on work premises violated company’s policy; (iv) informing all of the shift leaders that they qualified as supervisors under the Act and that therefore, they were prohibited from participating in union activities; and (v) discouraging employees from talking about any union organizing activities during working hours. Loparex LLC v. NLRB, Case Nos. 09-2187, 09-2289, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 28754 (7th Cir. Dec. 31, 2009).
Loparex is a reminder that non-union employees may commit unfair labor practices under the Act if their human resource policies discriminate against union activities. Employers’ handbooks must be neutrally drafted and neutrally applied. If they are tilted against union activity, an employer risks the result which occurred in Loparex.
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Tags: Employment Law, Labor & Employment