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Washington, D.C., Labor Law, and NLRB

Thursday, August 22, 2019

SECURE Retirement Legislation Passed in House, Pending in Senate The SECURE Act is still pending in the US Senate, but the legislation passed the House of Representatives with proposed changes that would increase access to defined contribution plans, promote lifetime income options, and affect retirement plan design and administration. Story
  
SEIU Challenges Secondary Boycott Ruling: The NLRB violated workers' First Amendment rights by ruling against janitors who demonstrated outside a building in San Francisco, SEIU argued in a federal court filing this week. The NLRB last year ruled that the janitors, who protested alleged sexual harassment by their boss outside of a building that they cleaned, weren't entitled to federal protection from retaliation. That's because they picketed outside a building where their employer, a contracted cleaning company, wasn't located (rather, the workers protested at the offices of a local radio station where they clean). According to the NLRB, the workers violated the law by directing their opposition at the radio station, a third party, instead of the employer itself - a "secondary boycott" in labor law parlance. But SEIU argues that the board's decision violates the workers' free speech rights, in part because they carried signs clarifying that they were "NOT calling for a boycott of this building." According to the union, the NLRB's reliance on a technicality - the use of the word "their" on a leaflet - to rule against the workers "contradicts the core First Amendment principles" and is "likely to chill protected speech."
 
NLRB Proposes New Election Rules This past week, the National Labor Relations Board proposed new election rules. These two rules, if passed, will ultimately further empower employees with the choice of whether they want union representation. As the proposed changes will impact both employers and unions, everyone involved in the bargaining process should be mindful of these proposals to avoid labor disputes. Story
 
San Francisco Employers May Have to Pay More in Paid Parental Leave Benefits in 2020 As Bay Area employers are well aware, San Francisco has several local employment-related ordinances that provide additional benefits to individuals performing work within the geographical boundaries of the City. One such benefit is paid parental leave.  Story