This posting was written by Travis P. Nelson.

In a recent article appearing in Illinois Banker magazine, “Beyond Social Media Policies: Have Other Common Employer Policies and Practices Been Struck Down by the National Labor Relations Board,” Reed Smith Chicago partner James A. Burns, Jr. discusses some of the more aggressive positions that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has taken against certain common workplace policies used by financial institutions with non-union employees. Based on the National Labor Relations Act’s recognition that all employees have the right to “engage in . . . concerted activities for the purpose of . . . mutual aid and protection,” the NLRB has long prohibited policies or work rules that “would reasonably tend to chill employees” in exercising those rights. As Jim explains in this article, the NLRB has now used that language to launch attacks on some of the more common policies that banks put in place in order to avoid legal concerns and minimize risk, creating new and unexpected risks.

To read a copy of Jim’s article, click here, or for more information on these and other labor and employment law issues facing banks in Illinois and beyond, contact Jim directly.

Travis P. Nelson is counsel in the Financial Services Regulatory Group at Reed Smith LLP, resident in the Princeton and New York offices, and a co-leader of the firm’s Financial Institutions Enforcement & Investigations Task Force. Prior to joining Reed Smith, Travis was an Enforcement Counsel with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Treasury Department, in Washington, D.C. Travis is also adjunct faculty at Villanova University School of Law, and a frequent lecturer at national and regional banking conferences.