NLRB ISSUES REPORT ON EMPLOYER HANDBOOKS
Last week, NLRB General Counsel Richard E. Griffith, Jr., issued a thirty-page report regarding the legality of employer handbook policies under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). The report contains guidance as to what types of employer policies and rules that the National Labor Relations Board has found to be lawful and which are likely to be found unlawful under the NLRA.
Specifically, the report is divided into two parts. The first part offers a comparison of rules that the NLRB has found to be unlawful with those it has found to be lawful in the context of confidentiality, professionalism, anti-harassment, trademark, photography/recording, and media contact rules. The second part discusses the General Counsel’s recent settlement with Wendy’s International LLC and explains why some policies in the Wendy’s employee handbook were found to be violative of the NLRA.
The General Counsel stated that his hope was that this comprehensive report containing specific examples of lawful and unlawful handbook policies and rules will be beneficial to employers, attorneys and human resource professionals.