NLRB Work Rule Decisions Continue To Be A Mixed Bag

As the NLRB continues to wade through the pool of issues arising from social media policies and other workplace rules, an Administrative Law Judge's recent decision in Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless (July 25, 2014) illustrates the growing number of problems employers face in developing corporate policies and the variability of NLRB decisions. In this case, Cellco Partnership and Airtouch Cellular had mixed success in defending their work rules against alleged 8(a)(1) violations.  Specifically, the ALJ ruled in the following ways with respect to corporate policies that forbade employees from:

• Engaging in solicitation during work time, distributing nonbusiness literature in work areas at any time and using company resources (such as emails, computers, telephones and fax machines) for solicitation or distribution purposes
  • The ALJ upheld this rule, finding that employees have no statutory right to use an employer's equipment for personal matters.