Abstract
Surveillance of employees has a long history. Both employers and unions have photographed employees who are engaged in union activities for as long as electronics have permitted. Allegations of illegal "surveillance" during union recognitional campaigns have steadily increased over the years, as both parties to the elections -- unions and employers -- accuse one another of engaging in campaign conduct that has coerced the voting employees. Because election campaigns are highly emotional for the employees and the parties, the appeal of documenting campaign activities is understandable: both parties want to ensure the legality of their actions while, perhaps, documenting suspected objectionable conduct by the other party. Nevertheless, the legality of this surveillance under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is far from resolved. This article questions whether a per se assumption of coercion aptly preserves the laboratory conditions of an election, even accepting the Board's second assumption that employees vote out of a fear of retaliation.
Repository Citation
Desiree LeClercq,
A Snapshot of the NLRB's Laboratory Conditions Doctrine: Erroneous Assumptions of Coercion in Surveillance Cases
, 59 Lab. L.J. 154
(2008),
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_artchop/1695