The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is tasked with overseeing issues regarding unfair labor practices and safeguarding employee's rights to unionize. In its power the NLRB hears Union related disputes between employers and employees.

In one recent case, the Board found an employer, Latino Express Inc., had engaged in unfair business practices. Some of these practices clearly overstep legal bounds, such as discharging employees for supporting a union, interrogating employees regarding union activities and sympathies, or prohibiting employees from discussing terms and conditions of employment. However, the Board also took issue with Latino Express soliciting grievances from employees to remedy them, promising improved benefits, and granting wage increases. The Board noted that these actions were done for the purpose of discouraging the employees from selecting union representation and as such were unfair business practices. The Board required Latino Express to reinstate certain employees, post a notice informing employees of the right to unionize, and required a meeting be "scheduled to ensure the widest possible attendance"at which a corporate officer read the notice aloud.

In another recent case, the Board found that a company had not engaged in unfair business practices when it held a holiday party on the first night of the election for union representation, despite the company having never held such a party previously. The Board weighed several factors to determine the true purpose of the party, including the size of the party, the cost of the food and drink provided by the employer, and the stated purpose of the party. Since the Union failed to quantify the lavishness of the event, the Board held that the Union could not demonstrate that the party was excessive for its stated purpose. 

Ensuring compliance with union regulations and fair business standards requires thoughtful consideration of how an employer's actions will be considered by the NLRB. Familiarization with previous NLRB decisions is one method to understand that perspective. 

Contact Feldman Kieffer to discuss compliant labor practices.

The question, generally, is whether the acts of the employee were done while the employee was doing his employer's work. Courts consider several factors, laid out in the seminal case, Riviello v. Waldron. The Court takes into account the connection between the time, place and occasion for the act; the history of the relationship between employer and employee as spelled out in actual practice; whether the act is one commonly done by such an employee; the extent of departure from normal methods of performance; and whether the specific act was one that the employer could reasonably have anticipated.

The employer maintains liability regardless of whether the task is part of the employee's usual duties or whether the employee disregarded the employer's instructions. Even intentional acts can create liability for the employer if the acts are a natural or foreseeable consequence of the employment.

Understanding how far the scope of employment can stretch allows employers to proper analyze whether there are any liability concerns. Since the employer maintains liability, even when the employee ignores the employer's instructions, employers must monitor and properly discipline employees for unsafe work habits. Preventing workplace accidents is the best method to minimize exposure. Understanding what constitutes "the workplace" is a necessary step to that process. 

Contact Feldman Kieffer for a consultation regarding your potential liability today.