Transportation20

North Carolina has joined Arizona, Mississippi, and South Carolina in requiring employers, including motor carriers, to use the federal government's E-Verify system for evaluating employment eligibility.  The E-Verify system compares Form I-9 employment eligibility information with data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to ensure a match.  E-Verify is an otherwise voluntary system, except for certain federal contractors and employers in Arizona and Mississippi.

Beginning October 1, 2012, North Carolina employers with at least 500 employees must use the E-Verify system for all new hires.  The obligation will apply to employers with 100 or more employees beginning January 1, 2013, and employers with 25 or more employees must use E-Verify as of July 1, 2013.  E-Verify requirements do not apply with respect to current employees.  

As we recently noted, a South Carolina federal Court invalidated a National Labor Relations Board regulation requiring the posting by all employers of a notice of employee rights to engage in union and other protected activities.  We also noted that the ruling contradicted a decision last month by a DC federal court upholding the notice posting requirement.  This afternoon, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction preventing the NLRB from its planned April 30 implementation of the notice posting requirement.  As such, employers will not be compelled by the NLRB to post a notice of employee rights unless and until the appellate process is complete and the injunction is dissolved.  We will keep you updated as events unfold.

Late Friday, a South Carolina federal Court struck down the National Labor Relations Board's recently-promulgated employee rights notice-posting regulation.  The regulation, set to go into effect April 30, 2012, requires employers, including motor carriers and other transportation companies, to post a notice informing employees of their rights to engage in union and other protected, concerted activity.  The Court recognized that the NLRB had only the authority granted to it by Congress and that the NLRB exceeded that authority.  The Court's ruling contradicts last month's finding by a D.C. federal Court that Congress in fact granted broad power to the NLRB, which included power to require the proposed notice-posting.  The NLRB has not yet commented on the ruling, nor has it formally suspended the April 30 effective date of the regulation.  We will continue to monitor the matter as the proposed implementation date approaches.   

The NLRB announced yesterday that it has postponed the effective date of a new regulation requiring employers, including motor carriers, to post a notice of employee rights under federal labor law.  The original effective date for the notice posting was November 14, 2011, but that date has now been moved back to January 31, 2012.  According to the NLRB, the delay came about in order to allow time for enhanced education and outreach to employers.  No changes to the text of the Employee Rights Notice will be made.  Yesterday's announcement by the NLRB made no mention of the pending lawsuits challenging the NLRB's power to require such a notice under any circumstances, but the delay is viewed by some as acquiescing to the Judge’s request in the Washington D.C. lawsuit.