IMG_3428We want to send a special THANK YOU to the more than 300 of you who attended HR Law & Solutions last week. It is always such a pleasure for all of us – it feels like an annual reunion! Congratulations to all of our raffle winners, and especially to our new HR Law & Solutions Hall of Fame recipients (pictured left to right): Patti Reigle (of Digestive Health Physicians), Fran Barker (of Physicians’ Primary Care), and Kim Hopkins (of McGregor Baptist Church.

As we mentioned during our What Would You Do? session, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) recently issued a report on employer handbook policies. It is…interesting, to say the least. The report gives examples of (supposedly) lawful and unlawful handbook policies on issues like confidentiality, conduct toward supervisors and fellow employees, conflicts of interest, and employees leaving work. Generally, “lawful” vs. “unlawful” turns on whether the NLRB thinks the particular policy infringes upon employees’ Section 7 right to engage in concerted activity regarding terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.

Importantly, we want to make clear that the NLRB’s stance on workplace policies is not only relevant for unionized workplaces – it is relevant for non-union workplaces too. In our seminar evaluations (when we say we review them we really do – every last word!), one attendee mentioned questioned the relevance of the NLRB report since we don’t have many unions here in Florida. While it is true that the NLRB generally governs union matters, the NLRB’s stance on employer policies absolutely applies to non-union workplaces because it is rooted in employees’ Section 7 rights.

As we did at HR Law & Solutions, we will analyze particular sections of the NLRB report in future blog posts, but we highly recommend giving it a read if you haven’t already. You can download it here

Thanks again for your support of and feedback on HR Law & Solutions! We will be meeting shortly to start planning for 2016, and will shoot out a Save-the-Date post as soon we have it secured.