Since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Republic Aviation v. NLRB almost seventy years ago, courts and the National Labor Relations Board have been weighing employers' property rights against union rights under federal labor law in determining whether to allow union organizers access to work sites.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Republic Aviation v. NLRB almost seventy years ago, courts and the National Labor Relations Board have been weighing employers' property rights against union rights under federal labor law in determining whether to allow union organizers access to work sites. Over that time, the Supreme Court has attempted to limit access, while the Board gradually has expanded it. Recent decisions from the NLRB have reinforced the notion that the Board continuously gives more weight to employees' access rights than to employers' property rights. "NLRB's Continuing Expansion of Off-Duty Access Rights," published in the Daily Labor Report, 190 DLR I-1, 10/1/2014, and available on the In Depth Analysis page of FordHarrison's website, discusses the history and progression of these decisions. It appears that if employers want an off-duty access policy in the current labor law climate, they either need to ban reentry for all purposes or allow unfettered access.
If you have any questions regarding the article, other off-duty access issues or other labor or employment law issues, please contact Jacquelyn Thompson, jthompson@fordharrison.com, an associate in our Washington, DC office. You may also contact the FordHarrison attorney with whom you usually work.