An Inside View from the NLRB

 

This session provided a true insider’s view of the National Labor Relations Board, thanks to the Honorable Phillip Miscimarra, who joined the Board for a four-year term in 2013. Along with co-presenter G. Roger King, senior labor and employment counsel for the HR Policy Association, he took a closer look at some of the significant decisions issued by the NLRB in the past year. 

 

Miscimarra acknowledged the many challenges currently faced by HR professionals, especially in the health care environment. As the lone dissenting voice in many of the recent NLRB opinions, Miscimarra expressed some regret about the lack of unanimous outcomes. At the same time, he shared some of his quirkier dissents, including references to both Voldemort and Spock.  A "Let’s Test the Experts" game made clear that in many cases, "The problem is not with employers, the problem is that the standard is too hard to understand," he explained, providing examples where even NLRB board members did not always agree with the policies.

 

Among the initiatives outlined in the session were several that will have potentially far-reaching effects for HR professionals:

• Misclassicifciation of individuals as independent contractors as a potential unfair labor practice – employer depriving individuals of Section 7 Rights under NLRA
• Initiative to expand Weingarten" rights, including expansion to non-union represented employees
• Cases involving allegations that "English-only" policies violate the NLRA
• Cases involving the expansion of the right of employees to utilize employer electronic communication systems in addition to email systems – expansion of the board’s Purple Communications decision
• Cases involving access to employer property during union organizing campaigns – "equal access issues"