At Ward and Smith’s recent annual Employment Law Symposium, two attorneys from the firm’s labor and employment group, Grant Osborne and Genesis Torres, interviewed Shannon Meares of the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB" or the "Board").

She has worked for the Board for 24 years and was recently promoted to the position of Deputy Assistant General Counsel to the NLRB.

Ms. Meares offered guidance as to how employers can avoid sitting in the NLRB's hot seat. Subjects discussed included:

• Protected concerted activities in the form of social media posts,
• Non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements, and
• Problematic responses to employees' grievances.

Ms. Meares also offered an overview of the NLRB's jurisdiction, along with its structure, processes, and leadership. The NLRB is an independent federal agency that enforces the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA"), which is a federal statute enacted to protect employees' rights to seek better working conditions and bargain collectively with employers.

The NLRB protects the right of employees to form unions and engage with one another to seek improved working conditions – such as by discussing compensation and non-wage benefits. The Board includes five members and employs a prosecutorial branch headed by the General Counsel.

The Board Members are political appointees who serve five-year terms, during which they decide litigated cases about the NLRA's reach and employees' related labor relations rights. The NLRB also...

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