NLRB Reinstates Decades-Long Precedent Allowing Employers To Discipline Newly Organized Employees Before A First Contract

• Published date: 03 July 2020
• Law Firm: Seyfarth Shaw LLP
• Author: Ms Jennifer Mora

Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 23, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board reversed precedent and held in Care One at New Milford, 369 NLRB No. 109 (2020), that during negotiations for a first collective bargaining agreement, employers do not have a duty to bargain with a union over discipline for newly organized employees if the discipline is issued consistent with established disciplinary policies or practices. The decision is retroactive to any case currently pending before the NLRB.

For almost 80 years, the National Labor Relations Board had in place a longstanding rule that employers had no obligation to give a union notice of or an opportunity to bargain over discipline before reaching agreement with a newly elected union on a first contract. That all changed, however, when the NLRB held in Total Security Management Illinois 1, LLC, 362 NLRB No. 106 (2016), that an employer, with limited exceptions, was required...