For the past several years, the majority of employers have been aware of the increasing pro-union trend of the National Labor Relations Board (NRLB). However, a few recent decisions by the NLRB sparked significant concerns among employers and merit consideration by any company, whether unionized or not.
In June, an administrative-law judge with the NLRB ruled that Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. had unlawfully terminated an employee after that employee shouted racist comments during a Steelworkers strike in Findlay, Ohio. And in late March, two NLRB members ruled that a catering company unlawfully terminated an employee who called his manager a vulgar name and mentioned the manager’s mother in a Facebook post. In both cases, the NLRB found that the employee had engaged in protected activity under the nation’s labor laws.