Employment Law Updates

On Aug. 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") adopted a new standard for assessing the legality of workplace rules and handbook policies that affect employees' rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA"). The NLRA applies to both unionized and non-unionized employees, and protects employees' rights to engage in protected concerted activities.

The NLRB's decision in Stericycle overrules its prior 2017 decision in Boeing, which had provided employers greater flexibility in establishing workplace rules and handbook policies. The NLRB reasoned in Stericycle that this previous standard gave too much weight to employer interests and condoned overbroad work rules. Over the past 25 years, the NLRB has issued conflicting decisions on the applicable test for assessing facially neutral work rules. Under the new standard, facially neutral rules and policies are presumptively unlawful if they have a "reasonable tendency" to chill