NLRB Reins In Protections for Workplace Outbursts

NLRB revives test limiting protections for workers' profane, racist ...

NLRB Reins In Protections for Workplace Outbursts

Written by Louis Cannon On September 23, 2026, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a decision changing the legal standard to be used in situations involving employee outbursts in the workplace. For years – since 1979 – the NLRB’s rule in this area was governed by a case called Atlantic Steel that established four factors that a judge must apply after an employee was …

NLRB Reverts Back to Wright Line Test to Determine Whether Employee Conduct Is Protected by Section 7 of the NLRA

Yesterday, September 24th, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued a decision establishing the test to be used in determining when an employee’s union-related activity goes too far to lose Section 7 protection, such that the termination of their employment for such conduct does not violate the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). The Board re-adopted what is known as the Wright Line test and held that the General Counsel must i…

NLRB Returns to Common Sense: Protected Activity under the NLRA Does NOT Give Employees License to Engage in Abusive Workplace Conduct

NLRB Returns to Common Sense: Protected Activity under the NLRA Does NOT Give Employees License to Engage in Abusive Workplace Conduct On September 23, 2026, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board), in its decision in Lion Elastomers III, has acknowledged that its prior decision in Lion Elastomers II is no longer (and, really,... Continue Reading