What’s the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut?  Two weeks.

In the last several months the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has been hard at work issuing new decisions, guidance, and rules/regulations for employers to follow.  The simple theme for all of these efforts at the NLRB is to assist unions and make it easier for unions to organize groups of employees.  These changes have not gone unnoticed by employers.  In some instances, employers have resisted the NLRB's efforts.  For example, the NLRB's posting notice requirement was met wtih a lawsuit challenging its implementation (read here) which has delayed the implementation of the rule in the short term (read here).  

These employer efforts have now led to the introduction of legislation in Congress designed to overturn or check the NLRB's advances.  In addition to the notice posting requirement discussed above, the NLRB has proposed a new set of election rules designed to dramatically accelerate the union election process and issued a decision (read here about Specialty Healthcare) restricting the ability of employers to challenge the scope of the employee group being organized by the union.  Each of these changes provides a significant edge to a union attempting to organize a group of employees.  These two events prompted introduction of the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act (H.R. 3094), which is designed to overturn the proposed election rule and the NLRB's decision in Specialty Healthcare.  In addition to this direct approach to overturning the NLRB's recent activity, some lawmakers have also threatened to slash funding tp the NLRB as part of the recently proposed federal budget.  Stay tuned for further developments as Congress and the NLRB battle over the landscape of the union organizing process.  

Kansas has a strong agricultural tradition.  Kansas farmers lead the nation in wheat production.  Almost 20 percent of all U.S. beef comes from Kansas.  Our state ranks high in many other crop and livestock statistics as well.  Agriculture and agribusiness are crucial to the Kansas economy.  In fact, one in five Kansans work in agriculture-related jobs.

The H-1B visa, the one most commonly used by employers to bring specialized workers to the United States on a temporary basis, is subject to an annual cap/quota.  The annual counting period tracks the federal fiscal year schedule and runs from October to September.  Employers may apply for employee start dates up to six months in advance of the date.  In a nutshell, employers can start seeking numbers against the fiscal year cap starting in October as early as April 1.  For example, employers could request an H-1B visa on behalf of an employee on April 1, 2011, with a starting date of October 1, 2012 (part of fiscal year 2012).  After six months of usage, approximately 20,000 numbers remain available.  If this year follows the pattern of last year, the remaining numbers under the cap are likely to be used up around the end of December to the end of January time frame. 

Here is the link to the cap counting page on the USCIS website.

This posting departs from the subject of employment law.  But we think it's important that your company is aware of the new .xxx domain registry being introduced for adult entertainment websites.  More particularly, we think it's important that you are aware that if you want to stop your trademark from being available as a "yourbrand.xxx" domain name, you only have until October 28, 2011 to submit a "Sunrise B" application.  If approved, no one will be able to register “yourbrand.xxx" as a pornography site.  To learn more about how you can protect your brand from being associated with an .xxx domain name, click here.

Citing a desire to allow additional time for enhanced education and outreach to employers, especially those who operate small and medium-sized businesses, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced recently that it has postponed the implemenation date for its recently announced rule requiring the posting of a notice of the rights provided under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).  This is the second time the posting date has been pushed back.  Initially the deadline to post the noticed had been November 14, 2011, but the NLRB pushed that date back to January 31, 2012.

Despite strong pushback from the manufacturing industry and other employer groups, as well as at least one lawsuit challenging the NLRB's authority to issue the notice, the NLRB made no changes to the substance of the notice, which can be downloaded for free from the NLRB's website here.  The NLRB's website also provides answers to many of the frequently asked questions which can be found here.  Stay tuned for more details as the NLRB works toward the new implementation date.

Europeans in the Middle Ages came up with the colloquialism “rare as a black swan” to describe impossibility, because they knew good and well that all swans are white.  Then Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh discovered black swans in Australia in 1697.  Oops.  After that the term “black swan” was used to describe a perceived impossibility that might later be proved possible.             

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced today that it is postponing the implementation deadline for posting the new notice from November 14, 2011, to January 31, 2012.  The NLRB stated that the reason for the delay is to allow "for enhanced education and outreach to employers, particularly those that operates small to medium-sized businesses."  The substance of the poster remains unchanged.

In an effort to assist employers with trenching safety concerns, OSHA issued a set of educational materials for employers to use with their employees.  These materials provide a very basic overview of trenching safety.  While they are a nice tool for employers to utilize in their training programs, they are not a replacement for a competent compliance person and an in-depth trenching safety program.  The press release with the links to the training aids can be found here.

You’ve heard stories about bad bosses. And you’ve heard stories about workplace wagers.  But have you heard the one about the boss who held a contest in which all employees were asked to predict which of them would be the next one fired, with a cash prize awarded to the winner?

The boss, who owns a convenience store chain, outlined the rules of the game in a memo sent to all employees. It said:

October is my favorite month of the year.  Warm, sunny days, followed by cool, crisp nights.  Colorful foliage.  Fall festivals.  College football.  Playoff baseball.  And, of course, the start of another U.S. Supreme Court session.