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We are continuing to monitor key trends and significant updates that affect employers across a wide variety of industries. We want to make sure we touch upon issues that are of concern to you. We invite you to take a moment and let us know what you would like to hear more about in this newsletter. Click below to email our team of attorneys.
Updates
Ninth Circuit to Employers: What Your Employees Say on Social Media May Haunt You
Picture this: You're packing up your office, getting ready to head home for the evening, when your human resources manager peaks her head in. She explains that she has just fielded a complaint from a female employee: a male co-worker is running a social media account where he routinely makes sexist posts and occasionally references his female colleagues. While disturbing, your HR manager insists that the allegations cannot arise to a hostile working environment because the social media activity occurs outside of the workplace and after work hours. Is your HR manager correct? According to a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, she could be wrong.
NLRB's Final Rule Restores Union Toolkit for Keeping Bargaining Representative Status
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued another union-friendly final rule. The Fair Choice-Employee Voice Final Rule (Final Rule), scheduled to become effective September 30, 2024, resurrects three procedural tools that have historically allowed unions to win or retain representation rights: (1) blocking charges, (2) the voluntary recognition bar, and (3) parity for the construction industry. This Final Rule, like other final rules the NLRB has issued in the last three years, rescinds many of the rules promulgated by the NLRB in February 2020 (2020 Rules). The Final Rule is expected to pave the road for unions to become or remain employees' bargaining representatives, without participating in a secret ballot election.
Education Roundup: Planning for the 2025-2026 Enrollment Season: Key Updates to Independent Schools' Enrollment Contracts
Now that independent schools are well into the 2024-2025 school year, independent schools are turning their attention toward enrollment and re-enrollment season for the 2025-2026 school year. Before issuing enrollment contracts, independent schools would be wise to review and fine-tune their enrollment contracts with an eye to issues that arose in years past to ensure that those most pressing issues impacting the relationship between the school and its enrolled families are contemplated. Below we have summarized several key issues to be assessed in reviewing independent schools' enrollment contracts.
Attorney Spotlight
About the Labor and Employment Group
The national, 40-person Labor and Employment team at Venable provides guidance and support across the full spectrum of workplace dynamics – helping employers control costs, avoid disputes, and defend themselves when litigation arises. As co-editors of this newsletter, Michael Volpe and Doreen Martin invite you to share the content with your colleagues and reach out with any questions.