NLRB Judge Rules Houston-Based Restaurant Chain’s Collective Action Ban Violates NLRA

Last week, a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) administrative law judge ruled that a Houston-based restaurant chain violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) when it required workers to sign a mandatory arbitration agreement that included a collective action waiver.  In the consolidated case, the judge also stated the restaurant chain wrongly terminated two workers who sought to engage in collective action against the company over purported wage and hour violations.  Additionally, the administrative law judge found that restaurant managers illegally coerced workers into signing the arbitration agreement by threatening to remove them from the work schedule.

After the NLRB judge found portions of the restaurant’s employee handbook to be unlawful, she issued an order directing the restaurant chain to cease and desist from maintaining the mandatory arbitration program and rescind those provisions of the handbook that violated the NLRA.  Ultimately, the case was formally transferred to the Board for review “pursuant to Section 102.45 of the National Labor Relations Board’s Rules and Regulations.”

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