Last fall, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a rule mandating that employers begin to post at the workplace a new form that notifies employees in general of what rights they have under the National Labor Relations Act. It was initially scheduled to take effect on November 14 of last year; but its effective date was postponed to April 30, 2012.
“Contrary to what some employers might assume, this poster is required regardless of whether their own employees belong to a union,” says Stephen P. Bond, partner at Brouse McDowell.
Smart Business spoke to Bond to find out more about what this means for employers and how they can comply with the new rule.
What kinds of employers should be concerned with the new requirement?
As a general rule, this applies to all businesses that have annual gross revenues of $500,000 or more. There are some specially defined categories that vary from this. For example, the regulation would apply to a nursing home with annual revenues of as little as $100,000, or a daycare center with annual revenues of $250,000. Even a smaller business can come under coverage if it buys or sells more than $50,000 worth of goods or services in interstate commerce. There is an exemption for governmental entities.
What does the poster say?
In addition to telling them how to reach the NLRB with complaints, it advises employees they have the rights to, among other things:
* Organize a union
* Bargain collectively
* Discuss wages, benefits and other terms and conditions of employment with other employees
* Take action with one or more co-workers to improve their working conditions by raising work-related complaints with their employer
* Go on strike, depending on the purpose or means of the strike
It also informs them that it is illegal for an employer to, among other things:
* Prohibit them from talking about a union during non-work time
* Question them about union activities
* Discipline them for being involved in union organizing activities
* Threaten to close down if a union is chosen by workers
* Prohibit them from wearing union buttons at work in most cases
* Spy on them for engaging in union organizing activities
How is it to be posted?
The poster is to be placed in a prominent location and, at the least, at any location where personnel rules are usually posted by the employer. If 20 percent of the work force speaks another language, a foreign language version of the poster needs to be posted. If the employer usually uses an intranet or Internet sites to communicate with employees about personnel issues, the poster needs to be available there as well, either as an exact copy or as link to the NLRB’s site. Employers can download the poster from www.nlrb.gov/poster, or they can call the government at (202) 273-0064 to have it mailed to them.
What challenges does this rule pose for employers?
The poster is significant on three levels. First, if an employer fails to comply voluntarily, any employee can file an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB against the employer; and, theoretically, the NLRB could ultimately order the employer to comply with a court order. That process can be costly, time-consuming and counterproductive to staff morale. Beyond that, if an employer fails to post, and an employee later files an unfair labor practice charge on some other issue, the NLRB may excuse any delay by the employee because the person hasn’t been forewarned of his or her rights through a poster. The NLRB may also interpret the refusal to post as evidence that the employer has an anti-union motive relative to the unfair labor practice charge.
Second, while the warnings in the poster are merely reciting rights that have long existed in the law, some employers are concerned that this listing, without explanation or context, will create confusion among employees and lead to disputes that would not otherwise have arisen.
Third, the poster does highlight a couple of issues, which, regardless of the new requirement, employers should be aware of. Even if an employer does not have a union in place or a collective bargaining agreement, employees generally do have certain rights under federal law, essentially, the right to act in concert to assert their rights as employees. One example that is surprising to many employers is that employees have a right to talk about their rates of pay and work benefits — and a rule that prohibits that would be deemed illegal by the NLRB. In turn, they also have the right to talk among themselves concerning work issues, and to approach management for solutions, even though no union represents them. If employees are e-mailing or using social media to share their concerns about their work experience, the NLRB may say that this too is engaging in concerted action about work and prevent employers from interfering with it.
What is the status of the rule?
Once this rule was announced last fall, lawsuits were immediately filed in federal courts. The National Association of Manufacturers, for one, alleged in its complaint that the rule is itself illegal because the National Labor Relations Act, which created the NLRB, did not authorize it to issue a substantive requirement of this nature. This litigation is part of the reason that the NLRB has twice postponed the final effective date for the rule. In a decision issued in March, the Federal District Court for Washington, D.C., held that it was satisfied that the scope of authority that Congress intended to give to the NLRB, back in 1935, was broad enough to include this type of a posting requirement. An appeal was immediately filed and is now pending.
Stephen P. Bond is a partner at Brouse McDowell. Reach him at (440) 934-8080 or [email protected].
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