|
Peter Sung Ohr Named Acting General Counsel by President Biden
We are proud to announce that President Joseph R. Biden has designated Peter Sung Ohr to serve as Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.
“As a career employee of the NLRB, I am especially proud to continue my work with the smart and dedicated agency staff to vigorously enforce the mission of the NLRA,” Ohr said. “I look forward to actively engaging the public to ensure workers’ fundamental rights of association at the workplace are protected to the fullest extent of the law.”
Mr. Ohr began his career with the NLRB in the Honolulu Sub-regional Office as a Field Attorney. In 2005, he was appointed Deputy Assistant General Counsel in the NLRB’s Division of Operations-Management. In 2011, Mr. Ohr was appointed Regional Director of the NLRB’s Chicago Regional Office (Region 13).
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Mr. Ohr received a B.A. from the University of California-Riverside, a J.D. from Pepperdine School of Law, and an M.B.A. from Hawaii Pacific University.
Regional Attorney Paul Hitterman and Assistant to the Regional Director Daniel Nelson will take turns as acting Regional Director in Region 13 during Mr. Ohr’s absence from the Region. Mr. Hitterman will take the first stint, which will last approximately two months.
President Appoints Lauren McFerran NLRB Chairman
On January 20, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden named Board Member Lauren McFerran Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board.
“It is a tremendous honor to assume the Chairmanship of the NLRB,” McFerran said. “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue serving with our extraordinary agency staff in this new capacity. In these turbulent times for working people, the mission of the Board and the rights we protect are more important than ever. I look forward to this new chapter in the Board’s work, redoubling our efforts to serve the Act’s goals—‘encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining and … protecting the exercise by workers of full freedom of association.’”
McFerran served as a Member of the NLRB from December 17, 2014 until December 16, 2019. On July 29, 2020, the Senate confirmed her renomination as a Board Member for a term expiring on December 16, 2024.
The Board also consists of Member John F. Ring (previously NLRB Chairman), whose term expires on December 16, 2022; Member Marvin E. Kaplan, whose term expires on August 22, 2025; and Member William J. Emanuel, whose term expires on August 27, 2021. One Board member seat is currently vacant.
Prior to her appointment to the NLRB, Ms. McFerran served as Chief Labor Counsel for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP Committee) and also previously served on the Committee as Deputy Staff Director under Senator Tom Harkin. She began working on the HELP Committee as Senior Labor Counsel for Senator Ted Kennedy. Before her work in the United States Senate, Ms. McFerran was an associate at Bredhoff & Kaiser, P.L.L.C. and served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Carolyn Dineen King on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Ms. McFerran received a B.A. from Rice University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
NLRB Case Law Developments
Board Establishes Standards for Mail-and Manual-Ballot Representation Elections During the COVID-19 Pandemic
In a decision issued on November 9, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board sets forth the considerations Regional Directors should weigh in determining whether an election should be conducted by mail ballot, as opposed to an in-person manual ballot, because of COVID-19-related conditions. The case is Aspirus Keweenaw, 370 NLRB No. 45 (2020).
The NLRB’s longstanding policy strongly favors manual elections, although since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board has permitted mail-ballot elections under an “extraordinary circumstances” exception to the manual ballot preference. Since March 2020, approximately 90-percent of NLRB representation elections have been conducted by mail. The Board has approved the Agency’s Regional Directors’ decisions to conduct these elections by mail, recognizing the unique concerns raised by the pandemic.
In Aspirus Keweenaw, the Board provides the Regional Directors with updated guidance for use in determining the appropriate election method to be used in light of the unique COVID-19 circumstances. The decision outlines six situations related to the COVID-19 pandemic that, when one or more is present, will normally suggest the propriety of conducting an election by mail, rather than manual ballot. Those circumstances are:
- The Agency office tasked with conducting the election is operating under “mandatory telework” status.
- Either the 14-day trend in the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the county where the facility is located is increasing, or the 14-day testing positivity rate in the county where the facility is located is 5 percent or higher.
- The proposed manual election site cannot be established in a way that avoids violating mandatory state or local health orders relating to maximum gathering size.
- The employer fails or refuses to commit to abide by GC Memo 20-10, Suggested Manual Election Protocols.
- There is a current COVID-19 outbreak at the facility or the employer refuses to disclose and certify its current status.
- Other similarly compelling circumstances.
The Board further held this new guidance would be applied retroactively and accordingly remanded Aspirus to the Regional Director in light of the factors set forth in this decision.
“Carrying out the mission of the Agency—particularly conducting our elections—has been challenging during these unprecedented times, and the Board acknowledges and sincerely thanks our Regional Directors and Regional Office staff for their extraordinary work on the front lines of this effort,” Chairman John F. Ring said. “This decision,” he added, “will provide much-needed guidance to Regional Directors and parties on the circumstances in which mail-ballot elections are appropriate during this pandemic. While protecting the health and safety of all election participants, these guidelines also recognize the benefits of conducting elections in the workplace, where many of the employees we serve have continued to work during the pandemic.”
Chairman Ring was joined by Members Marvin E. Kaplan and William J. Emanuel in the majority decision, and Member Lauren McFerran wrote a separate opinion concurring in the result.
Significant Region 13 Settlements & Decisions
On September 18, 2020, the Board issued a Decision and Order in Zeigler Ford of North Riverside and Zeigler Buick GMC of Lincolnwood & Cadillac of Lincolnwood pursuant to a formal settlement stipulation. The Board ordered the Employer to cease and desist from:
(a) Telling employees that the Respondents are nonunion or that employees are paying the union for nothing, or making statements that suggest that employees’ union activities are futile.
(b) Soliciting employees to revoke their authorizations for the checkoff of union dues from their wages.
(c) Failing to furnish the Union with the relevant requested information, or in any like or related manner refusing to bargain collectively and in good faith with the Union as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of the units at Respondents’ Lincolnwood and North Riverside, Illinois facilities.
(d) In any like or related manner interfering with employees’ rights under Section 7 of the Act.
The Order further required the Employer take the affirmative action to provide the Union with the information it requested on December 19, 2019. These cases were investigated by Field Attorney Kevin McCormick and supervised by Supervisory Field Examiner Kate Gianopulos. Thereafter, the formal settlement agreement was negotiated by Field Attorneys Christina Hill and Rachel Stopchinski, who were supervised by Regional Attorney Paul Hitterman.
On January 21, 2021, the Region approved a settlement agreement in Hyatt Place Chicago O’Hare. The Employer laid off its shuttle drivers because of the COVID virus during the course of a mail ballot election. The employees chose to be represented by Teamsters Local 727. The Employer began reinstating its shuttle service, but instead of recalling the laid off drivers, the Employer began assigning the shuttle driving to other hotel employees.
The Settlement Agreement requires the Employer to bargain with the Union before making changes to employees’ terms and conditions of employment, and to reinstate the drivers with backpay. The case was investigated and settled by Kevin McCormick, who was supervised by Kate Gianopulos.
|
