News
Jon Klinghoffer, a Principal in the firm's Labor & Employment and Litigation Groups, is quoted in "Labor Board Reduces Standard for Unionized Employers to Update Work Terms," an article published by SHRM.org.
The article concerns the new "contract coverage" standard that replaced the stricter "clear and unmistakable waiver" standard and the National Labor Relations Board's role in enabling employers of unionized workplaces to make changes to workers' terms and conditions without bargaining with the union.
"In practice, this change will allow employers to rely on broadly written management-rights clauses in support of their unilateral changes to certain terms and conditions of employment."
Under the old standard, unless the CBA specifically referred to the type of employer decision at issue or mentioned the kind of factual situation at hand, the employer could not make a change without bargaining with the union, said Mr. Klinghoffer. Now, the board will examine the CBA's plain language and determine whether the employer's action is within the scope of the contractual language granting the employer the right to act on its own. If so, the employer will not have violated the act even if the employer's unilateral change was not specifically mentioned in the CBA, Mr. Klinghoffer noted. "In practice, this change will allow employers to rely on broadly written management-rights clauses in support of their unilateral changes to certain terms and conditions of employment."
