Description
The answer should be no more than 3 pages.
17. Betty Suarez is the administrative assistant for the manager at Mode, Inc., a small fashion design house. She prepares the payroll for the firm and assists the manager with some personnel decisions. The office staff at Mode, Inc. seek to form a union, and Betty is interested in being a part of the union. Are there any legal restrictions on Betty being a member of the bargaining unit? Explain.
19. The taxi drivers at 4-Star Cabs pay the company a daily rental fee for the use of the company cabs but get to keep all the fares that they earn during their driving shifts. The drivers determine their working hours and must pay for the gas they use during their shifts. The company carries an “umbrella” auto insurance policy that covers the drivers, but it does not provide any benefits to the drivers. Are the drivers “employees” under the NLRA? Explain.
18. The maintenance and food service workers at Prestigious University are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union. The union and the university administration have just agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement covering the next four years. A number of workers in the skilled maintenance department are dissatisfied with their union because they feel that the union accepted lower wage raises in return for getting a long-term contract. They contact a representative of the Service Employees International Union to discuss ousting the Teamsters as their bargaining representative. What must the workers do to get the NLRB to hold a decertification election?
20. When the NLRB held a reauthorization election for the unionized employees at Shaw Manufacturing Co., only 60 of the 100 members of the bargaining unit actually voted. Of those voting, 25 voted to keep the union shop requirement, and 35 voted to eliminate it. Must the union and the employer rescind the union shop requirement of their collective agreement? Explain.
Explanation & Answer
Attached.
Running Head: EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR RELATIONS
Employment and Labor Relations
Institutional Affiliation
Date
1
EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR RELATIONS
In light of the facts provided in the case study, Betty Suarez is the assistant
administrator who works directly with the manager in the financial house. Additionally, she
will be the one to prepare the payroll for all the employees and will assist in the making of
personnel decisions. There are certain legal restrictions which will prevent Betty from joining
the union. According to the National Labor Relations Act, certain employees shouldn't be
included in a bargaining unit that has been established by the National Labor Relations Board
(Cihon, 2008).
The employees who will be excluded from joining bargaining units will be employees
who will have the confidential capacity in the organization. According to the Act, such
employees will include a supervisor who will help in the making of personnel decisions
which involve the hiring, terminating of the employees and so on, the managerial employee
who will execute management policies and the confidential employee. The confidential
employee has been defined in the act as the employee who will act in confidential capacity by
providing recommendations when it comes to personnel decisions, by implementing policies
which deal with labor relations and many other responsibilities.
Betty Suarez falls into the category of being a confidential employee because of her
job duties. The legal restriction will feature the lack of statutory protection which will occur
if a confidential employee joins a bargaining unit. The rationale behind the exclusion can be
identified in the case of NLRB v. Meenan Oil Co where the Supreme Court established that
the inclusion of a confidential employee in a bargaining unit would alter the company's
position since the information gathered by the confidential employee will help the union to
predict the employer's bargaining position (Castagnera, 2008).
2
EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR RELATIONS
Under the National Labor Relations Act §152 (3), an employee who will be protected
by the act will be an employee who isn't an agricultural laborer or an independent contractor,
or a supervisor, or any person who has been employed and is subject to the Railway Labor
Act. Section 2 (3) of the act provides statutory exemptions which include an independent
contractor as one of the persons who will be excluded from coverage.
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