Employee / Labor Relations

I occasionally get a critique from students on my “political” views about unions. But it is hard to talk about unions without being somewhat political, at least not in today’s current environment. It is no secret that unions are political. They overwhelmingly support Democrat party candidates over Republican. They gave overwhelming monetary support to get a Democrat elected President.

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The continuing saga of the Jerry Sandusky case serves as a grave reminder that employers that do not act the moment that troubling information arises will lose the ability to protect against complaints and lawsuits via the defense: “we had no idea that there was a problem.” Read more...

Since it was first published in 1952, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) has served as the primary reference on mental health disorders for medical practitioners, government agencies such as the Social Security and Veterans Administrations, and state and federal courts.  The fourth edition, known as the DSM-IV, was published in 1994, with only minor “text revisions” in 2000. 

We are all constantly trying to figure out the limits of employees’ rights when it comes to their social media postings. But what about employers’ rights? Those rights seem to be less and less these days. But a new case involving LinkedIn helps employers draw a new line in the sand …

In August of 2011, the National Labor Relations Board issued its controversial decision in Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 356 NLRB 56 (Aug. 26, 2011), overruling 20 years of Board precedent and imposing a new approach for determining what constitutes an appropriate bargaining unit in non-acute health care facilities. There, the Board announced that it would apply the “community of interest” test to non-acute care settings, such as nursing homes.

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