NLRB General Counsel Issues Guidance Re. New Employer-Friendly Work Rules Standard

From OMA Connections Partner Frantz Ward: “In a memorandum issued last week, NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb offered important guidance on how his office plans to prosecute claims of unlawful workplace rules in the wake of the Board’s restorative Boeing decision … the Boeing decision created a sensible standard for determining the lawfulness of work rules. This was a welcome change for employers, given the flurry of handbook-related activity under the Obama-era Board. Unfortunately, though, Boeing gave little guidance on how to actually implement the new standard. Mr. Robb’s memo adds some clarity.

“Recall that Boeing established three different categories for evaluating employer work rules: 1) rules that are generally lawful (known as “Category 1” rules); 2) rules that merit a case-by-case determination (“Category 2” rules); and 3) rules that are plainly unlawful (“Category 3” rules). Within this framework, Mr. Robb’s memo identifies the proper category for a number of common work rules …”