Haynes and Boone, LLP
  February 18, 2013 - United States of America

NLRB Roundup: A Year in Review, and a Look Ahead
  by Arthur T. Carter, Alex Stevens, A. John Harper III

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) began 2013 as it began 2012, facing questions regarding whether a quorum of its members had been constitutionally appointed. As we noted in our February 3, 2012 NLRB Roundup, President Obama made three controversial “recess” appointments to the Board to restore its quorum. Now, a year later, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals recently addressed the validity of these appointments and declared them invalid. This decision has called into question many of the Board’s 2012 decisions.


The D.C. Circuit’s decision is especially significant because during 2012, the Board issued a number of notable decisions affecting employers, whether or not they are unionized. Decisions of note continued to focus on work rules and workplace investigation procedures. The Board also took several noteworthy actions outside of issuing decisions, such as launching a public relations effort to highlight the rights of all employees to engage in “protected concerted activity,” releasing a summary of its investigations into social media cases, and continuing to attempt to require employers to post a notice informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”). Do these actions still stand? How should employers proceed in 2013?








Footnotes:

If you have any questions, please contact one of the following members of our Labor and Employmentor Traditional Labor Law Practice Groups:

Arthur T. Carter
214.651.5683
[email protected] 

Alex Stevens
214.651.5475
[email protected]

 A. John Harper III
713.547.2055
[email protected] 

 

Arrissa Meyer 
214.651.5314 
[email protected]

 

 Lindsay Murchison
214.651.5588
[email protected]

Punam Kaji
214.651.5147
[email protected]





Read full article at: http://www.haynesboone.com/files/Uploads/Documents/Alerts/NLRB-Roundup-February-2013.pdf