Daily eBriefs - November 30, 2023

Employment Where employees received a monetary credit for opting out of their union- and employer-sponsored health plans, these credits were not part of the employees’ regular rate of pay, but rather were exempted as contributions irrevocably made by an employer to a trustee or third person pursuant to a bona fide plan for providing health insurance under 29 U.S.C. § 207(e)(4). Sanders v. County of Ventura - filed Nov. 30, 2023 Cite as 2023 S.O.S. 22-55663 Full text click here >http://sos.metnews.com/sos.cgi?1123//22-55663

Board Extends Effective Date of Joint-Employer Rule to February 26, 2024

November 16, 2023 Today, the Board extended the effective date of its recent rule on determining the standard for joint-employer status to February 26, 2024, to facilitate resolution of legal challenges with respect to the rule. The new standard will only be applied to cases filed after the rule becomes effective. Notice of the extension will be published in the Federal Register shortly.

Richard Lussier Named Deputy Associate General Counsel in the Division of Advice

Today, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo announced the appointment of Richard Lussier as Deputy Associate General Counsel in the Division of Advice. The Division of Advice provides guidance to the Agency’s Regional Offices regarding difficult and novel issues arising in the processing of unfair labor practice charges and coordinates the initiation and litigation of injunction proceedings in federal court under Section 10(j) and (l) of the National Labor Relations Act. Mr. Lussier began his career at the NLRB in 1996 as an attorney in the Division of Advice. He was promoted to supervisory attorney in the Injunction Litigation Branch in 2017. In 2020, Mr. Lussier was named Assistant General Counsel for the Agency’s Injunction Litigation Branch. A Connecticut native, Mr. Lussier graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1991, Quinnipiac University School of Law in 1995, and Georgetown University Law Center in 1997. “Richard is a tremendous attorney who has spent his career upholding the National Labor Relations Act,” said General Counsel Abruzzo. “He’ll continue to be an asset to the Agency in his new role as he continues to effectuate the Act.”

NLRB and OSHA Announce New MOU to Strengthen Health and Safety Protections for Workers

October 31, 2023 Today, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer A. Abruzzo and Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at the U.S. Department of Labor Douglas L. Parker executed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen the agencies’ partnership to promote safe and healthy workplaces through protecting worker voice. Because many worker efforts to improve safety and health in their workplaces are protected under both the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSH Act) and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the NLRB and OSHA have historically engaged in cooperative efforts and have entered into formal Memoranda of Understandings to engage in interagency coordination since 1975. Today’s agreement expands on the historic interagency coordination by enabling the NLRB and OSHA to closely collaborate by more broadly sharing information, conducting cross-training for staff at each agency, partnering on investigative efforts within each agency’s authority, and enforcing anti-retaliation provisions. The agencies also released a resource on “Building Safe & Healthy Workplaces by Promoting Worker Voice” which provides tools and key references for employers and workers on working collaboratively to create and maintain safe workplaces, including resources on collective bargaining and compliance. “Workplace safety can be a matter of life and death for workers and so the ability to report workplace hazards without fear of retaliation is critically important,” said General Counsel Abruzzo. “Today’s MOU will bolster protections for workers to speak out about unsafe working conditions by strengthening coordination between OSHA and the NLRB on our enforcement efforts.” “Everyone should be able to exercise their legal rights in the workplace without fear of losing their job or other forms of punishment,” explained Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. “This partnership with the National Labor Relations Board will expand both of our agencies’ impact and effectiveness in protecting workers who raise concerns about workplace violations or retaliation.” The MOU is part of the NLRB General Counsel’s interagency coordination initiative to take a whole of government approach to enforcement. As part of the initiative, the NLRB is working closely with worker protection and consumer protection agencies to ensure that the government is coacting and co-enforcing all related laws in the most effective and efficient way, which will ensure workers are fully protected while minimizing employers’ compliance burdens.