Active NLRB roils workplace decision-making

The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) continuing efforts to remake American labor law is taking its toll on management and union, alike. With fundamental precedents being overruled and new rules and advice being published, even the most experienced participants in the labor-management field find it difficult to make plans and provide counsel. For many, the National Labor Relations Act’s (NLRA) goal of providing stability and predictability at a time of workplace turmoil is being obscured as the Board and General Counsel (GC) seek to create a new body of law more favorable to union organizing and to unionized workers.

Basis for termination
One of the Board’s most recent efforts to change precedents addressed the standards for upholding a termination. The existing standard in Tschiggfrie Properties requires the GC to demonstrate a “causal relationship” between a worker’s activity and the employer’s actions taken against them. Over 18 months ago, GC Jennifer Abruzzo announced her intention to overturn Tschiggfrie despite the support given to it by the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.