Tagged: Terms and Conditions
On January 3, 2012, The National Labor Relations Board issued its decision in, D.R. Horton, Inc. Case No. 12-CA-25764. This is a significant decision for all employers as it prohibits the use of class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements. Specifically, the Board held that arbitration agreements that contain provisions that prohibit employees from filing joint, class or collective claims addressing their wages, hours or other working conditions against their employer, in any forum, violate Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
The National Labor Relations Board’s Acting General Counsel recently issued a report and press release summarizing the outcomes of recent NLRB cases involving employees’ use of social media and the legality of employers’ social media policies. Among the cases discussed in the report are several in which the Board found that provisions of employers’ social media policies violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act, which prohibits work rules that would “reasonably tend to chill employees in the exercise of their Section 7 rights” to engage in “concerted activities” for the purpose of “mutual aid or protection.”
Joining several of its sister courts, the Third Circuit has held that, unless accompanied by a change in pay, benefits, or employment status, placement on a performance improvement plan (“PIP”) does not amount to an adverse employment action for purposes of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”). Noting concerns over “naked claims of discrimination and greater frustration for employers seeking to improve employees’ performance,” the Reynolds v. Department of Army Court reinforces the notion that employers can utilize PIPs as a means to improve employee performance and conduct with decreased apprehension that the employee will initiate legal action based on the presence of the PIP alone.
