Nearly 70 ABC members and representatives Dec. 1-3 attended the 2010 ABC Attorneys Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., to hear from National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) members, ABC national staff, and labor law experts on the latest developments and insights impacting the merit shop construction industry.
This year’s luncheon featured NLRB Member Craig Becker as the speaker who discussed a range of issues that included: his confirmation process, the role of the NLRB, and the rules regarding recusal, specifically cases before the NLRB that involve his former employers, the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Becker also provided an overview of how the NLRB is handling the approximately 600 cases that were decided with a two-member board. The U.S. Supreme Court June 17 ruled that the NLRB was not authorized to issue decisions during a 27-month period when three of its five seats were vacant, invalidating more than 500 decisions which the board has begun revisiting.
Further, Becker indicated that the NLRB plans to continue to solicit amicus briefs from stakeholders in controversial cases, as has been the process in recent months. ABC is actively engaged in participating in these cases by filing amicus briefs in relevant cases. Becker also noted the precipitous drop in the number of new cases the NLRB has seen during the past year.
In addition to Becker, Attorneys Conference attendees heard from Lafe Solomon, the NLRB’s acting general counsel. Solomon discussed the general counsel’s recent use of section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act, which allows an employee who has brought a claim and who has been fired to be reinstated while the board is investigating the charges.
Solomon also discussed the recent unfair labor practice complaint issued by the NLRB alleging that an employer unlawfully terminated an employee who posted negative remarks about a supervisor on a personal Facebook page. The case calls into question the types of restrictions employers are allowed to place on social media activity in the employer handbook and is scheduled for a hearing in January 2011.
More information about NLRB decisions may be found here:
http://www.nlrb.gov/About_Us/news_room/.