It was Christmas at the NLRB for employers

Perhaps the most consequential ruling issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was that in Apogee Retail. This ruling returns to employers the right to require that witnesses in workplace investigations keep their testimony confidential during the investigation. The prior ruling, Banner Health System, issued in the name of not infringing on workers' rights, was widely criticized as "chilling" witnesses and hamstringing investigations, especially into matters of sexual harassment. Apogee is an important "plank" in the Board's evolving stance on balancing Title VII rights with those of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Another ruling that is likely to have an immediate impact is Valley Hospital Medical Center, which states that once a collective bargaining agreement has expired, automatic dues checkoff can stop. Although some observers have written that this puts too much leverage into employers' hands, others note that Valley Hospital does no more than return the law to what it had been since 1962, when an ostensibly prolabor NLRB decided Bethlehem Steel.

One of the most disputed rulings of the Obama NLRB, Purple Communications, required employers to let employees use the company e-mail system during nonwork time for any purpose, including union organizing or union administration. Employers bitterly opposed the ruling on constitutional grounds—compelled speech and appropriation of property, for starters. In Caesars Entertainment Corp., the Board reversed that decision, determining that face-to-face solicitation and handbills could suffice.