NLRB confirms unionized employers may adopt handbook

In Stericycle, Inc., 370 N.L.R.B. No. 89 (2/17/2021), the NLRB held that an employer may adopt and issue handbooks to its workforce, including unionized bargaining unit members, even where that language on its face is contrary to the union’s collective bargaining agreement, so long as it does not purport to apply that inconsistent language to the bargaining unit. In Stericycle, the company had not historically distributed its handbook to the union’s bargaining unit members. There had been two versions of the handbook over the years, and neither had been given to those workers. When a third was developed, its distributees did include the bargaining unit workers.  Unfortunately the handbook did not contain a clear disclaimer that the CBA would control in the case of any conflict with the CBA; rather, it contained a disclaimer to the effect that “some benefits may not apply to union team members and in some cases the policies may be impacted by collective bargaining agreements.” The union claimed its bargaining unit employees were indeed “impacted,” as the union pointed out many policies were contrary to the CBA. To complicate the situation further, the company had not involved the union or even given the union notice and an opportunity to discuss the handbook before implementing it. In a hotly split decision, the Board voted to reverse the lower decision and held that the company had not violated the NLRA, reasoning that the company’s disclaimer language was clear enough to suggest that the CBA would control and further that the union had failed to produce any evidence that the company had intended otherwise.

0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *