On August 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) issued its decision in Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (2023), where it adopted a new legal standard to determine whether an employers’ work rules violate Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The Board’s decision overrules existing precedent and establishes a more stringent test that is likely to render some existing work rules facially unlawful.
The Board has previously established and revised the standard for analyzing whether employers’ work rules and policies are lawful. In Martin Luther Memorial Home, Inc. d/b/a/ Lutheran Heritage Village-Livonia, 343 NLRB No. 75 (2004), the Board set forth a three-prong test to evaluate work rules. Under the Lutheran Heritage framework, if the rule does not explicitly restrict activity protected by Section 7 of the NLRA, the violation is dependent upon a showing of one of the following: (1) employees would reasonably construe the language to prohibit Section 7 activity; (2) the rule was promulgated in response to union activity; or (3) the rule has been applied to restrict the exercise of Section 7 rights. Subsequent cases applying the Lutheran Heritage framework arguably departed from the Board’s standard by inquiring only whether the rule could be reasonably construed to restrict Section 7 activity. Such an application of the standard resulted in a greater likelihood that employers’ ambiguous work rules would be deemed unlawful.
Years...
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO SEOUL – The agency of South Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun said on May 27 that “the truth is being confirmed through due legal process and a thorough investigation”, following the ...