Labor & Employment Law Update

The current employment market is placing incredible stress on businesses, many of which are struggling to find enough employees to simply cover shifts. Pay increases and higher recruiting costs, consequently, continue to rise. On top of these challenges, inflation and other market pressures have resulted in higher operating costs, compounding the impact to the bottom line.

On May 1, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) issued a decision, Lion Elastomers LLC, that provides employees with extensive cover for inappropriate workplace behavior under the guise of the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”). Moving forward, employers must carefully scrutinize the environment and circumstances under which bad employee behavior occurs and analyze whether levying consequences for such behavior could land it in hot water under the Act.

In another pro-union decision, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) recently held that employers are responsible for all “direct or foreseeable pecuniary harms” sustained by employees as a result of an unfair labor practice.  While such remedies have been ordered sparingly in the past on a case-by-case basis, the Board now mandates such an award in every successful unfair labor practice charge.