General Counsel charts new course for NLRB

Recently sworn-in General Counsel (GC) Jennifer Abruzzo has issued a memorandum setting forth new enforcement priorities for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which include a review (and potential overruling) of Board decisions issued during the Trump administration that had overturned legal precedent. To achieve the priorities, Abruzzo is requiring the agency’s regional offices to submit cases involving certain subject matters to the Office of the General Counsel for Advice before issuing a decision. The list of topics contained in the memo is a not-so-subtle sign the GC is seeking to chart a new, more employee-friendly course than the Trump-era Board.

NLRB recently overruled legal precedent

Abruzzo’s memo opined that “over the past several years, the Board has . . . overrul[ed] many legal precedents which struck an appropriate balance between the rights of workers and the obligations of unions and employers.” She included the following subject-matter areas for review.

Employer handbook rules. Specifically, the cases would involve the applicability of the 2017 ruling in The Boeing Co. to confidentiality, nondisparagement, social media, media communication, civility, and no-camera rules.