NLRB Adopts Employee-Friendly Test For Evaluating Workplace Rules

The National Labor Relations Board issued its decision in Stericycle, Inc. on Aug. 2, adopting a standard that places employment policies and workplace rules under greater scrutiny. Employers may now have added responsibility to ensure policies and rules can't be seen as having a "reasonable tendency" to dissuade employees from exercising their Section 7 rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

In adopting this standard, the Board reversed two Trump-era decisions, Boeing Co. (2017) and LA Specialty Produce Co. (2019). Boeing held that when analyzing challenges to facially neutral work rules, the Board would evaluate and balance two factors: "the nature and extent of the potential impact on NLRA rights, and [the] legitimate justifications associated with the rule." Boeing also established categorical approaches to certain work rules, under which some rules would always be considered lawful.