The new NLRB notice will inform employees that they have the right to act together to improve wages and working conditions, to form, join and assist a union, to bargain collectively with their employer, and to refrain from any of these activities. It provides examples of unlawful employer and union conduct and instructs employees how to contact the NLRB for questions or complaints. 

The notice must be posted where other workplace notices are typically posted.  The NLRB will make copies of the notice available to employers through its regional offices and the NLRB website on or around November 1, 2011.  Employers can also comply by purchasing and posting a set of workplace posters from a commercial vendor. Where more than 20% of employees are not proficient in English and speak another language, the poster must be translated into that language. Note that the new NLRB poster is very similar to the poster required for federal contractors under the Department of Labor’s rule last year, and an employer that posts the Department of Labor notice will be regarded as complying with the NLRB’s posting rule. 

Failure to post the notice may be treated as an unfair labor practice.  However, the Board has stated that in situations in which it appears the employer was simply ignorant of the rule, such a charge will typically be closed if the employer complies with a request by a Board agent to post the notice.  Knowing and willful failure to post the notice may be considered evidence of unlawful motive in an unfair labor practice case involving other alleged violations.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Alan S. Miller at Stoneman, Chandler & Miller.