As previously reported, amendments to the New York State Labor Relations Act (“NYSLRA”) in September expanded the law’s applicability to private sector employees who were previously explicitly excluded from the NYSLRA and have historically been subject to the federal National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) and the oversight of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) rather than state law. In essence, the amendments sought to expand the jurisdiction of the NYS Public Employee Relations Board (“PERB”) to cover these private sector employees. The amendments immediately faced separate legal challenges from both the NLRB and Amazon. In the Amazon case, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (“EDNY”) has now granted a preliminary injunction enjoining PERB from enforcing the amendments.
Read MoreIn response to the prolonged lack of a quorum at the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) and the Supreme Court‘s May 2025 ruling allowing President Trump’s removal of NLRB Chair Gwynne Wilcox to stand (at least for the time being), New York State has enacted legislation, colloquially referred to as the “NLRB Trigger Bill”, to fill the purported gap in protection and enforcement of labor relations laws. The bill, which Governor Hochul signed on September 5, 2025, amends the New York State Labor Relations Act (“NYSLRA”) by expanding its applicability to private sector employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) - employees who were previously explicitly excluded from NYSLRA coverage.
Read MoreOn October 27, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) published a Final Rule (“New Rule”) concerning the joint-employer standard. The New Rule was delayed more than once due to legal challenges and on March 8, 2024, a federal court in Texas vacated the New Rule. On May 7, 2024, the NLRB filed an appeal to the Fifth Circuit seeking to reverse the Texas court’s decision. However, on July 19, 2024, the NLRB voluntarily dismissed this appeal.
Read MoreAs employers may recall, on September 6, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning the joint-employer standard under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). On October 27, 2023, the NLRB published the long awaited Final Rule concerning the joint-employer standard, which will take effect on February 26, 2024.
Read MoreEmployers may recall that the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) recently issued a decision restricting the ability of employers to include broad non-disparagement and confidentiality clauses in severance agreements if such clauses have a reasonable tendency to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or the “Act”). Late last month, NLRB General Counsel (“GC”) Jennifer Abruzzo issued Memorandum GC 23-05 (the “Memorandum”), detailing how her office is approaching common questions related to the decision.
Read MoreOn February 21, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) issued a decision in McLaren Macomb restricting the ability of employers to include broad non-disparagement and confidentiality clauses in severance agreements if such clauses have a reasonable tendency to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or the “Act”). Section 7 of the Act provides non-managerial employees the right to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, such as by discussing the terms and conditions of employment with others. Not only did the Board find the broad confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses unlawful due to their infringement on Section 7 rights, but it also held that simply offering an employee a severance agreement with this overbroad language was unlawful, even if the employee does not sign the agreement. And while the employees in McLaren Macomb were unionized, employers are reminded that all non-managerial and non-supervisory employees, not just those working in unionized environments, have Section 7 rights.
Read More