NLRB’s Division of Advice finds employer satisfied bargaining obligations
In a memo released June 22, the NLRB’s Division of Advice has recommended dismissing a complaint against an employer over an alleged refusal to engage in pre- and post-disciplinary bargaining. The Division found that the employer, an auto dealership, did not have an obligation under the CBA to engage in pre-disciplinary bargaining.
Following the certification of the union as the bargaining representative of the employer’s full- and part-time technicians, the parties began negotiating a first-ever CBA. Although the union demanded that the employer not change the terms and conditions of the employees’ working conditions during bargaining, the employer continued to enforce the progressive discipline policy it had in place prior to the union’s certification and did not give the union the opportunity to bargain over discipline. The employer did, however, engage in post-disciplinary bargaining.
The Division found that the employer did not violate the Act. During CBA negotiations, employers do not have a duty to bargain over discipline issued within the parameters of a preexisting policy. Thus, the employer was allowed to continue using its old disciplinary policy while negotiating a new CBA. Moreover, the evidence indicated that the employer agreed to post-disciplinary bargaining whenever the union asked for it.
In yet another blow to the authority of the embattled NLRB, a divided Third Circuit ruled the recess appointment of former NLRB member Craig Becker was invalid; thus, a three-member panel comprised in part of Becker was improperly constituted when it denied reconsideration of a Board order finding the employer unlawfully refused to bargain with [Read more...]
Seasonal hiring expectations this summer mark a continued improvement over the years immediately following the recession, according to CareerBuilder’s annual Summer Jobs Forecast. Nearly three in 10 employers (29 percent) report they plan to hire seasonal workers this summer. While unchanged from 2012, the number is significantly up from an average of 21 percent from [Read more...]
Republican members of the Senate HELP Committee want a hearing on the NLRB’s 2014 budget request seeking an increase in funding for hiring when the agency’s caseload “has dropped almost 9 percent,” the senators say.
U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the Ranking Member of the HELP Committee, along with 13 other Republican senators, sent a letter [Read more...]
As local and state government workers head for the exits, human resources managers say their top concern is staff development. State and Local Government Workforce: 2013 Trends, the annual survey conducted by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and the International Public Management Association for Human Resources of human resource professionals, finds that [Read more...]
Stating that the federal government, as the nation’s largest employer, “has a special responsibility to act as a model employer,” President Barack Obama issued a memorandum to the executive heads of departments and agencies outlining his strategy for better understanding how administrative practices affect compensation of similarly situated male and female employees and to advance [Read more...]
