The balance between the employees’ protected rights and the employer’s legitimate business interests and justifications for its workplace rules has shifted over time with different decisions emphasizing one or the other. Under the Boeing standard, the NLRB gave more weight to employer justifications.
The Boeing case involved Boeing Company’s policy restricting the use of camera-enabled devices on its property — its “no camera” rule. Boeing argued that the rule was necessary to protect highly sensitive and classified information in its facilities. The administrative law judge hearing the case found that the rule violated the NLRA because under the Lutheran Heritage test, employees would reasonably construe the rule as prohibiting protected activity. The Board disagreed and adopted a new test.
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