NLRB Judge Dings General Motors for Overstepping Workplace Rules

General Motors Co. unlawfully discouraged workers at a Michigan plant from exercising their union rights, a federal labor board judge said Thursday.

A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge found that GM had overly broad rules at a Michigan facility, preventing workers from loitering, making “malicious” statements about the company, or collecting donations for any cause.

These rules, included in a local collective bargaining agreement, “reasonably tend to chill” employees’ use of their rights under the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, wrote the ALJ, Renee McKinney.

She also targeted rules prohibiting the removal of employee lists and distracting colleagues ...