The United States Supreme Court ruled on June 17, 2010, in New Process Steel L.P. v. NLRB, that as of December 31, 2007, when there were no longer three members of the NLRB, the NLRB lacked authority to act as a Board. In ruling as it did, the Court stated that it “was not insensitive […]
The National Mediation Board announced today that it would recognize an airline or a railroad union if a simple majority of ballots cast in an organizing election supported organizing a union. This Final Rule reverses an earlier rule that required a majority of the entire work force to favor unionizing. This is a major change that could […]
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal appellate court having jurisidiction over Utah, affirmed a district court’s vacation of an arbitrator’s award in a union dispute. While acknowledging that “judicial review of arbitral decisions is among the narrowest known to law,” the Court in Air Methods Corporation v. Office and Professionl Employees International Union […]
A recent visitor to this blog asked a question about the Employee Free Choice Act of 2009. Dear Mr. Crook: Any updates on the Employee Free Choice Act? Would you be able to comment on how this act may affect public employers? If passed, would it make it nearly impossible for public employers to keep […]
In Utah Education Association v. Shurtleff, the Tenth Circuit vacated its prior decision and upheld Utah’s Voluntary Contributions Act, which provides that a public employer cannot withhold from its employees’ paychecks any voluntary political contributions, including contributions to unions. The Tenth Circuit initially agreed with the district court that the Act was unconstitutional because it […]
In a decision issued today, 114 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, the United States Supreme Court ruled that “a collective-bargaining agreement that clearly and unmistakably requires union members to arbitrate [Age Discrimination in Employment Act] ADEA claims is enforceable as a matter of law.” In doing so, the Court acknowledged that it had previously expressed […]
In some circumstances, the law requires employees who refuse to join unions to pay service fees to the unions that represent their local collective bargaining unit. As one would guess, these laws often upset non-union employees who believe that their First Amendment rights of association and speech are being infringed. Consequently, there has been a […]
