Labor Law

1
Labor Law

• Construction Engineering 221

2
RPQ

• 1. What percentage of employees (by petition)
  need to be in favor of representation before an
  election can be held to determine the wishes of
  all the employees?
• A. 20 B. 25 C. 30 D. 51
• 2. Iowa is a right-to-work state.
• A. True B. False
• 3. Secondary boycotts are legal.
• A. True B. False

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RPQ 1

• 1. What percentage of employees (by petition)
  need to be in favor of representation before an
  election can be held to determine the wishes of
  all the employees?
• Correct answer is C. 30

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RPQ 2

• 2. Iowa is a right-to-work state.
• Correct answer is A. True

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RPQ 3

• 3. Secondary boycotts are legal.
• Correct answer is B. False

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The Norris-Laguardia Act

• Protects the rights of workers to strike and
  picket peacefully
• Strictly limits the power of FEDERAL courts to
  issue injunctions against union activities in
  labor disputes
• Allows injunctions to be issued against
• Illegal activities
• Activities that imperil national health or safety
  
• Prohibits YELLOW DOG contracts

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National Labor Relations Board

• Two primary functions
• To establish whether groups of employees wish to
  be represented by designated labor organizations
  for collective bargaining purposes
• To prevent and remedy unfair labor practices
• NLRB regional offices in major cities
• Power over all interstate commerce
• Limits involvement to major cases only

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Representation Elections

• National Labor Relations Act requires
• Employer bargain w/ representative elected by a
  majority of the employees (50)
• Representative can be an individual or a labor
  union
• NLRB Regional Office conducts representation
  elections (after they receive a petition of at
  least 30 of the employees)
• In election, employees are given choice of one or
  more bargaining representatives or no
  representative at all
• Election is a secret ballot election certified
  by NLRB

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Employer Unfair Labor Practices

• Contractor gives financial aid, such as a loan,
  to union that represents their union carpenters
• Contractor fires a construction worker because
  they helped organize a vote to have a union
  represent the employees
• Contractor refuses to bargain in good faith with
  the union representing their workers about wages,
  hours and other conditions of employment

10
Union Unfair Labor Practices

• Union tries to coerce a contractor in its
  selection of a representative for
  collective-bargaining purposes
• Union causes a contractor to discriminate against
  an employee by paying lower wages as an effort to
  force employee to join the union
• Union-security agreement that requires employees
  to join union after they are hired is legal
• Union refuses to bargain in good faith with
  contractor regarding wages, hours, job conditions

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Unfair Labor Practices and Remedies

• Charges of Unfair labor practice
• Filed by contractor, union or individual
• Filed with NLRB at regional office
• Within 6 months of alleged unfair activity
• Does the NLRB have statutory power to enforce its
  judgments?

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NLRB - No Statutory Power

• But can petition U.S. Court of Appeals for a
  decree to enforce an order
• Failure to comply with court order can result in
  fines or imprisonment
• Parties involved may seek judicial review
• NLRB empowered to issue a cease-and-desist
  order
• Contractor can get a court injunction directing
  an illegal activity to stop

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Union-Shop Agreements

• What is the difference between a closed shop
  and a union shop?
• What is meant by checkoff of union dues?
• What is meant by the right-to-work law

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Closed shop vs. Union shop

• Requires that a worker be a member of an
  appropriate union at the time they are hired

• New employee need not be a union member at the
  time of employment,
• But must join within a stipulated period to
  retain their job -7 days

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Checkoff of Union Dues

• Legal with union-shop agreements
• Employers deduct union dues from employees
  paycheck and pay directly to the union
• Employee must voluntarily given written
  permission to employer to withhold check off dues
• A mandatory check off is ILLEGAL considered an
  unfair labor practice

16
Union Hiring Halls

• All the following are FALSE statements in regards
  to union hiring halls except
• A. Agreements with hiring halls can give
  preferential treatment to union members
• B. The union must be the judge of a worker's
  competence
• C. Hiring halls are used to provide qualified
  applicants to contractors
• D. Hiring halls can discriminate against race,
  sex, national origin, and union membership
• E. A worker's access to a construction job can be
  conditioned on his/her ability to pass a union
  examination

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Secondary Boycott

• an organized refusal to purchase the products of,
  do business with, or perform services for (such
  as deliver goods) a company which is doing
  business with another company where the employees
  are on strike or in a labor dispute
• The NLRA forbids secondary boycotts

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Common Situs Picketing

• A common situs is a given location such as an
  industrial plant or a construction project at
  which several different employees are
  simultaneously engaged in their individual
  business activities
• What is meant by separate gate doctrine?
• When is common situs picketing OK?

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Separate Gate doctrine

• On multi-employer construction sites
• One gate is reserved and marked for the primary
  contractor involved in the labor dispute and
• Another gate for the neutral contractors not
  involved

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When is common situs picketing legal?

• When the gate provide for the open-shop employer
  is so located that the union picketing cannot
  communicate its picketing message to the public

21
Subcontractor Agreement Clauses

• Must be in the collective bargaining agreement
• Agreement with a union containing restrictions on
  subcontracting must pertain only to work on
  construction projects
• The workers represented by the union that makes
  the agreement restricting the contractors right
  to subcontract must have an employer-employee
  relationship with that contractor

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Jurisdictional Disputes

• Two unions claim that certain work should be
  performed by their workers
• Carpenters claim a new ceiling grid system
• Electricians claim that the ceiling grid is there
  only to support the light fixtures and electrical
  wiring
• Unions do not agree
• Contractor makes the work assignment to the
  carpenters and the electrical union files a
  jurisdictional dispute

23
Political Contributions

• What is a PAC?
• Under federal law PACs are only allowed to
  solicit personal contributions from individuals
  and disburse them to selected candidates.
• A. True B. False

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Administrated and enforced by the Equal
  Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
• The act established certain basic individual
  rights pertaining to voting access to public
  accommodations, public facilities and public
  education participation in federally assisted
  programs and opportunities for employment.
• It also makes it unlawful for an employer to
  refuse to hire or discharge an employee and/or
  limit, segregate or classify employees that would
  deprive individual of employment opportunities or
  status in company due to race, color, religion,
  sex, or national origin.

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The Davis-Bacon Act

• The Davis-Bacon Act includes all these items
  except for
• A. The Contractor must pay overtime at a rate of
  1 and ½ for more than 40 hours in a week.
• B. The Contractor must pay the workers on the
  job site at least once a week
• C. The Contractor must pay at least 2 weeks of
  vacation per year to each worker.
• D. The Contractor must pay at least the minimum
  wage required.
• E. The prime contractor is responsible for
  subcontractors compliance concerning wage rates

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The Copeland Act

• What is it?
• And what are kickbacks?

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The Copeland Act

• Makes it a punishable offense for an employer to
  deprive anyone employed on federal construction
  work of any portion of the compensation to which
  the employee is entitled
• Stipulates that payroll records shall be
  maintained and reports submitted by contractors
  as the Department of Labor may require
• Covers all construction projects on which the
  Davis-Bacon prevailing wages apply

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What are kickbacks?

• Employer forces employee to pay back wages to
  keep their job

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The Fair Labor Standard Act

• The Fair Labor standards Act of 1939, also known
  as the Wage and Hour Law, contains standards
  pertaining to minimum wage, maximum hours,
  overtime pay, equal pay (sex discrimination), and
  child labor
• Child labor minimum age for employment is 16
  (except in hazardous occupations 18 years)

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The Contract Work Hours and Safety Act

• passed in 1962
• applies to federal construction projects
• one and one-half times the basic rate of pay for
  all hours in excess of 8 hours per day or 40
  hours per week
• Amended in 1986 - overtime when they work more
  than 40 hours per week allows for 10 hour days

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The Drug-Free Workplace Act

• passed in 1988
• requires federal government contractors and
  employers that receive federal contracts and
  grants to maintain a drug-free workplace
• Federal work can be suspended up to five years if
  the act is not carried out.

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Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)

• Legal protections and remedies to persons with
  disabilities
• The act prohibits discrimination on the basis of
  disability by employers, employment agencies,
  labor organizations, or joint labor-management
  committees with respect to hiring and all terms,
  conditions, and privileges of employment
• Biggest impact in construction on design of
  buildings
• Wheelchair accessibility is one example