Employment Matters Blog - A blog about current developments & issues in employment, labor & benefits law

By Michael Arnold

The NLRB has postponed the implementation date for its new notice-posting rule three more months – from January 31, 2012 to April 30, 2012. The rule would require businesses to post notices apprising workers of their right to unionize. This is the second time the NLRB has postponed its implementation, this time doing so at the request of a federal court presiding over a case started by various business groups that are challenging the legality of the rule. The NLRB recognized that the three-month postponement will “facilitate the resolution of the legal challenges that have been filed with respect to the rule.” You can read our previous posts regarding this rule here, here, and here, and the NLRB’s latest press release here. We will continue to update you as events unfold.

Written by H. Andrew Matzkin and Paula Lyons

Many employers have employees sign confidentiality agreements aimed at prohibiting disclosure of confidential business information to third parties, and it has been widely assumed that such clauses were lawful. That assumption may no longer be accurate, however, as a recent First Circuit decision has held that confidentiality clauses in employment contracts can constitute a per se violation of employees’ protected employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) if the clauses can be read as prohibiting all discussions of wages, hours, and working conditions.  Click here to read the full article.