National Labor Relations Act and Minimum Wages Updates

The National Labor Relations Board ("the Board") recently added to the complexities associated with drafting an enforceable mandatory arbitration agreement. In its June 8, 2006, decision in U-Haul Co. of California, 347 NLRB No. 34 (2006), the Board held that an employer's mandatory arbitration policy violated the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA") because it was drafted too broadly, failing to expressly exclude unfair labor practices charges.

In May 2003, U-Haul distributed to its workforce a mandatory arbitration policy providing that all disputes relating to or arising out of an employee's employment with U-Haul or the termination of that employment would be subject to mandatory arbitration. The arbitration policy specifically provided that it applied to: