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WK&G Labor & Employment Alerts - Our attorneys keep an eye out for changes in federal and state regulations that may have an impact on your business. Take a look at the most recent email alerts.

Ask the Legal Professionals - The attorneys in WK&G's Labor & Employment Practice Group publish the answers to common questions about employment law once-a-month in the Puget Sound Business Journal. Take a look at WK&G's latest answers to the questions that you yourself may have been asking.

Featured Articles

In a recent decision involving the Washington Public Works Act, which requires payment of prevailing wages for construction of public works, the Washington Supreme Court continued its trend of interpreting state wage and hour laws expansively to protect Washington employees. In a close 5-4 ruling in Silver Streak et al. v. Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, the Court affirmed a ruling by the Department of Labor and Industries that the state Public Works Act applied to end-dump truck drivers who delivered dirt to the third runway project at SeaTac Airport. They did so despite the employers' reliance on a 1992 department policy memorandum which stated in part that "Delivery of materials using a method in which the truck does not roll while the material is placed, or rolls only enough distance to allow the materials to exit the truck, does not include incorporation of the materials into the jobsite." Read the full article.

An emerging phenomenon developing in employment law is that of employees posting web logs onto the internet. Employees gossiping, spreading rumors, and the grumbling about coworkers and their employer while at work has a long history, but employees now have the internet as another form of communication to let others know about their work and personal issues even off duty. This process of writing a web log is called "blogging," which is essentially an "easy-to-publish webpage" or "blog," where individuals can "share Internet links, news stories, and personal opinions and diary entries" on the World Wide Web in order to form ongoing communications on topics of interest. Issues arise when employees combine discussing and downloading information about their personal hobbies, sports, and relationships with their employer's business operations, clientele or competitors, or even workplace management. Read the full article.

As follow-up to a recent article by WK&G Member Sheryl Willert ("Overly Broad Policies May Violate National Labor Relations Act," 4/4/07 Labor & Employment Alert), a decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is instructive on employer policies on bulletin boards. In DynCorp, Inc. v. NLRB, the Court affirmed the decision of the National Labor Relations Board that an employer had unlawfully removed a pro-union flyer from a company bulletin board. According to the Board, the employer's evidence of a uniform policy precluding employee use of the bulletin board was undermined by an actual practice of allowing such postings and only removing them weeks after they were posted. By contrast, the pro-union flyer was removed immediately and was accompanied by a threat of discipline to the posting employee, which had never occurred before. Read the full article.

Follow-up Tips on Collective Bargaining Agreements
by Judd Lees

As discussed at the recent WK&G breakfast seminar entitled "Tips and Traps in Collective Bargaining Agreements" (3/28/07), employers must carefully review duration provisions in collective bargaining agreements to determine their scope and duration. Several recent cases underscore this need. In Operating Engineers Local Union 3 v. Newmont Mining Corporation, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over Washington, determined that an employer was bound to arbitrate the discharge of a union-represented employee even though the termination occurred after the contract had expired. The employee allegedly altered a company form prior to contract termination. The company immediately began its investigation of the issue but did not take action until after the contract had expired. According to the Court, a dispute "arises under" a contract if it involves facts and circumstances arising before expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. The relative importance or unimportance of the facts occurring prior to contract expiration are issues to be examined by the arbitrator, not the courts. As a result, the Court compelled the employer to proceed to arbitration. Read the full article.

Potential Impact of Employee Free Choice Act
by Judd Lees

Organized labor, with the assistance of many of the Democrats it helped elect to Congress, is attempting to push through its union card-check bill, called the "Employee Free Choice Act." The premise of the bill is that employees only exercise their "free choice" when signing authorization cards under the supervision of union business agents rather than when voting in the privacy of polling booths under the supervision of agents of the National Labor Relations Board. According to labor, the primary benefit of the new legislation, aside from choosing a very public "vote" over a private vote, is the absence of "coercive" employer messages about why the employees may not wish to be represented by a third-party union. The premise that "free choice" is better achieved without a balanced view point and without any privacy safeguards would be laughable if the proposed legislation was not gathering a head of steam. Let's quickly review the key ingredients of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act. Read the full article.

Seminars

Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC Labor & Employment Half-day Seminar (April 18, 2007). WK&G's labor and employment attorneys will provide seminar attendees an overview of significant issues in the labor and employment landscape, including wage and hour danger areas, I-9s, drug testing, FMLA and USERRA. Space is limited and the session is free, so please reserve your place soon.

Notice

These materials have been prepared by Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC for information purposes only and are not legal advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. You should not act upon this information without seeking professional legal advice, as legal counsel may be only given in response to an inquiry regarding a particular situation.

For further information, comments or suggestions regarding the Labor & Employment Advisor, or to enroll others to receive future alerts, contact Ainsley Simolike.

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