{Before skipping this post because you don’t have a union, remember that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) applies to employers without unions too. You can read about the application of the NLRA to non-union employers here.}
War might be an extreme description, but the NLRB has been issuing decisions that declare run-of-the-mill employee policies as unlawful. For example, earlier this month the NLRB determined that an employer’s conduct policy was unlawful. The unlawful provisions of the policy stated that “employees will not make negative comments about our fellow team members”, “employees will represent
Other policies that have been under attack include confidentiality policies, social media policies, dress code policies, confidentiality during workplace investigations, and at-will employment policies.
Before throwing out all your policies and handbooks and declaring anarchy at the workplace, remember that the NLRB isn’t prohibiting you from having policies. It is requiring that the policies you have are narrowly tailored and specific about the type of conduct you expect from your employees. Instead of pitching the policies, have them reviewed to ensure that you aren’t unknowingly violating the NLRA (or any other laws!)