Employers Beware: NLRB's 'Stericycle' Decision May Affect Your Work Rules

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) continues to keep employers on their toes. The NLRB again addressed whether otherwise neutral employment policies—those that do not on their own violate the National Labor Relations Act (the Act)—are still unlawful because they discourage employees from engaging in otherwise protected conduct. (The NLRB refers to this as "chilling" an employee's decision to act in a certain way.) This decision immediately affects all employers, regardless of whether a labor union represents their employees.

In Stericycle Inc., the NLRB overturned its 2017 decision in Boeing and adopted a new standard for evaluating neutral employer work rules. In its decision, the NLRBreadopted and then revised the Lutheran Heritage standard, which was in effect from 2004 until it was overturned by Boeing in 2017.