Locke Lord’s Michael Rose Quoted in Law360 on Benefits to Employers of New NLRB Standards for Employee Handbook Rules

Michael Rose, a Partner in Locke Lord’s Labor and Employment Practice Group in the Houston office, was quoted in a Law360 article examining the National Labor Relations Board’s standards for evaluating whether employee handbook rules violate federal labor law. Rose said the new test to gauge whether handbook rules infringe on employees’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act, laid out in a case involving Boeing in 2017, is “more practical” in taking into account employers’ needs.

While Rose said he “advise[s] employers to stay away from are rules and provisions that are written so broadly that there's just not much of a doubt that they can be read to infringe on Section 7 rights," he acknowledged the need for a risk assessment in drafting company policies.

“…You have to consider if this is a policy or provision that's important to an employer, even if there's a possibility of the NLRB ultimately finding it impacts Section 7 rights," Rose said.

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