Pursuant to a new ruling from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), workplace policies will be scrutinized under a new standard, i.e., whether they have a “reasonable tendency” to discourage employees from engaging in protected activity. This is a more employee-friendly change from the previous standard, under which the NLRB looked to (i) the nature and extent of the potential impact of the policy on employees’ National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) rights, and (ii) legitimate justifications associated with the rule. The NLRB found that the previous standard did not appropriately consider the chilling effect that work rules can have on workers’ rights.
