Imagine this: a nurse leaves the operating room during spinal surgery to participate in a union action, the employer terminates the nurse, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) holds that the employer violated federal labor law by terminating the nurse. That is exactly what happened to a New York hospital recently when the Board compared the nurse’s actions to a non-union employee who acted in a similar manner and was not disciplined, and found that the hospital violated the law. This is just one of many hard to believe examples of the NLRB’s continued push to expand the protections offered to employees. 

With the expanded focus on employee protection, a major area the NLRB continues to focus on is the expansion of what constitutes “protected concerted activity.” One example of this expansion is that employers must be aware that behavior that looks on its face to be harassment may be considered protected concerted activity by the NLRB. Further, the NLRB has even suggested that a single employee’s workplace complaint could constitute protected concerted activity. Over the last month, the NLRB has continued to push the limits on protecting employees and the expansion of protected concerted activity.