An Arkansas food manufacturer was within its rights to prohibit workers from using company time or resources for activities unrelated to employment, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Aug. 28.
Southern Bakeries’ rule regulating on-duty conduct passed muster under the NLRB’s 2017 ruling in Boeing, which set a new test for assessing workplace policies and handbook provisions. That test weighs a workplace rule’s potential to interfere with employees’ National Labor Relations Act rights against the employer’s legitimate justifications for it. But that balancing wasn’t necessary for the conduct rule because it wouldn’t affect NLRA rights.
“Put simply, because the ...