When I was first practicing law, I quickly learned that the answer to many legal questions under National Labor Relations Act depends on which Board’s decision you pick. If the Board has a majority of Members (the name for those people who issue decisions) appointed by a Republican President, I was likely to find an answer that would please my management clients (and the partner who asked me to do the research). By contrast, if the Board’s majority was comprised of appointees named by a Democrat President, the outcome would vex my clients. In other words, the “rules of the game” shift with administrations.
Hence, I am here today to report a recent NLRB ruling against Starbucks that concluded that, “State law be damned,” employees may lawfully commit an act unlawful under the law of their State if they do so for reasons they claim to be protected concerted activity (PCA) under the NLRA. Okay, I’m being a little flip. The Board concluded in its decision that State laws that require that both parties to a conversation consent to its recording (or else the recording violates State law) are preempted (that is, displaced) where the recording is in furtherance of PCA.
In the Starbucks case, employees who were working hard to get their coworkers to vote for union representation recorded conversations with managers. One said she did so because she was afraid management would retaliate against her and wanted or preserve a “neutral source” of what was said. Another stated that he had...
A message claiming to offer free laptops to students has been widely circulated online. The message asks students to apply under the supposed ‘National Student Laptop Scheme 2026’, giving the impr...