Novel noncompete theory applied

In a May 30 memorandum, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo announced the agency would examine employers’ restrictive covenants, asserting that they generally violate federal labor law. A recent case against Berry Green Management Inc. alleged that a noncompete forbidding low-wage workers from getting a job with any company in the same business in the entire state for two years after separation was illicit. Although the case ended in a settlement, the complaint provides early clues about how NLRB enforcers will police employers’ use of noncompete contracts.

Unions liable for strike violence/damage

The Supreme Court weighed in to clarify when a union can be held liable in state court for its actions during a strike. The company successfully accused the union of coordinating with truck drivers to time their strike so mixed concrete would harden and go to waste. The Court focused on the intentionally destructive conduct of the union. Although some commentors insist that the preemptive effect of federal labor law (the Garmon doctrine) remains intact, this ruling puts that doctrine on less stable grounds and opens unions to tort-like damages. Glacier Northwest, Inc., DBA v. Teamsters, Local 174.

Board imposes expanded back-pay damages