With its sole Democratic member's term expiring as of
December 16, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board issued a
flurry of decisions this week in advance of her departure,
including two decisions rolling back Obama-era restrictions on
workplace rules. Those decisions, which permit employers to require
employees to maintain the confidentiality of internal
investigations and to prohibit employees from using company email
for non-work purposes, give employers more freedom to implement
neutral, uniform work rules.
Rules Requiring Confidentiality During Investigations Are
Valid
The first decision, Apogee Retail LLC d/b/a Unique Thrift Store
and Kathy Johnson, 27-CA-191574, considered whether two employer
policies requiring employees to keep internal investigations
confidential were lawful under the National Labor Relations Act
(NLRA). In a 2015 decision, the Board had held that a similar work
rule violated the NLRA because it unduly restricted employees
