HR Dive Mailbag: Stericycle Disclaimer

Bracewell’s Kelly Robreno Koster participated in HR Dive’s Mailbag series to address the National Labor Relations Board’s Stericycle ruling, which holds vague rules around things such as workplace civility and social media potentially violating workers’ Section 7 rights because they may dissuade protected concerted activity.

Robreno Koster encourages employers to add a “robust” disclaimer to handbooks and policies in light of the NLRB’s ruling, which foreshadows increased NLRB scrutiny of related policies.

She also noted that it remains to be seen whether such disclaimers will be effective: In a dissent, Board Member Marvin Kaplan said that disclaimers are seemingly the only way for employers to prevail under the new heightened standard, but the legal sufficiency of them will remain unclear until this specific issue comes before the board.