By Eric B. Meyer
I’ve beaten the subject to death on this blog.
The National Labor Relations Board created a rule that will require most private-sector employers to post this notice, in a conspicuous location, informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act, which includes the right to form a union.
Here’s the latest…
To post or not to post?
In March, a District of Columbia federal court upheld the rule. On Friday, a federal court in South Carolina shot the rule down. Randy Johnson at Free Enterprise has more on that decision.
Post it? Or don’t post it?
If you work in the District of Columbia, you need to post the notice. And if you live in South Carolina, you can trash it. But what about the rest of us?
Good question. IMHO (non-legal-advice-giving-non-attorney-client-relationship-creating), I say that, until a court in your state gives the yay or nay, post it. (Although, I would not be surprised to see the NLRB delay the April 30, 2012 posting deadline again).
If in doubt, you may want to post
Put the poster up right next to the other laminated posters that your employees pass by every day and, likely, may have never read. And if you are really concerned about the message it sends, consider a second posting advising employees that while they have the right to unionize, there are many good reasons to remain union-free. Also, train your supervisors and managers about how to address employee questions about unionization, which is something you should be doing anyway.
Ultimately, if you don’t give employees a reason to unionize, a 11″ x 17″ NLRB poster won’t mean squat.
This was originally published on Eric B. Meyer’s blog, The Employer Handbook.