The Seventeenth Edition makes a number of significant changes to its predecessor, reflecting the evolution of the law relating to employers, employees, and unions in a dynamic economy and polarized political environment. This edition includes new decisions of the National Labor Relations Board appointed by President Trump, which has departed in many, significant ways from the approach of the Board under the Obama Administration. The Trump Board's starkly different outlook on the role of labor law in the contemporary workplace is reflected in its overturning or reversing precedents on many key issues, such as protections for employee electronic communications, accountability for employers in "fissured" enterprises, and treatment of various other employer restrictions on collective employee activity. The book also contains judicial decisions addressing these developments, evincing the growing conflicts over the role of labor unions in society. This edition supplies a comprehensive revision in light of major legal shifts occurring from 2016 through 2020, notably Newly revised NLRB representation election rules SuperShuttle and more, addressing the distinction between employees and independent contractors The Boeing Company, adopting a new and markedly different framework for analyzing whether facial neutral workplace rules interfere with Section 7 rights, including rules addressing matters such as employee use of cameras in the workplace and workplace civility standards Caesars Entertainment, reverting to the Board's prior approach (under The Register Guard) to rules on employee use of employer email for concerted activity The NLRB General Counsel's advocacy of stricter limitations on neutrality agreements Newly enacted rules overturning Browning-Ferris and narrowing the scope of joint employer status Alstate Maintenance, seemingly narrowing the scope of concerted activity for mutual aid or protection Epic Systems, in which the Supreme Court rejected the Board's decision in Murphy Oil, thereby unwinding protection against contractual waivers of the capacity to participate in group arbitration or adjudication of employment-related claims General Motors, adopting a new approach to determining when allegedly abusive conduct loses protection under Section 7. MV Transportation, abandoning the "clear and unmistakable" standard for determining whether a CBA waives the duty to bargain and replacing it with a "contract coverage" standard. New discussion problems and exercises throughout the text offer students the opportunity to engage with this new material, illustrating how exciting and challenging the study of labor law is today.

The 2019 statutory and case supplement covers significant developments since the publication of the casebook, including: Super Shuttle DFW, Inc., 367 NLRB No. 75 (2019) accepting the D.C. Circuit's approach to independent contractor determination. UPMC Presbyterian Hosp., 368 NLRB No. 2 (2019) restricting the access of union organizers to public spaces - a restaurant - on an employer's premises when "promoting" the union. Didlake Inc., 367 NLRB No. 125 (2019) employer speech misstating the law as requiring the payment of union dues law is treated as a "factual misrepresentation" during a union campaign. Alstate Maintenance, LLC, 367 NLRB No. 68 (2019) restricting the scope of "concerted activity for mutual aid or protection". G.C. Advice Memo. (Dec. 20, 2018), NLRB's General Counsel effort to eliminate use of "Scabby," the inflated rat. Board's reconsideration of deferral to arbitration standards (March 15, 2019). Bridgewood Health Care Center, Inc., 367 NLRB No. 110 (2019) restricting remedy where successor employer unlawfully attempts to avoid successorship. Johnson Controls, 368 NLRB No. 20 (2019) partially abrogating Levitz Furniture where conflicting claims regarding majority support are made prior to the termination date of a collective bargaining agreement.

The 2022 statutory and case supplement not only contains all relevant statutory provisions but also highlights and summarizes significant developments since the publication of the 17th edition of the casebook, including: The Board's invitation for briefs in The Atlanta Opera, Inc. 371 NLRB No. 45 (2021), on whether it should reconsider the SuperShuttle standard for determining the independent contractor status Updates on and problems addressing union organizing activities at Amazon facilities and corresponding litigation The Board's invitation for briefs in Stericycle, Inc., 371 NLRB No. 48 (2021), on whether the Board should continue to adhere to the work rules standard adopted in The Boeing Company The Supreme Court's decision in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, 141 S. Ct. 2063 (2021), holding unconstitutional California's Agricultural Labor Relations Act's right to access by union organizers The Board's invitation for briefs in Thryv, Inc., 371 NLRB No. 37 (2021), on modifying its make-whole remedies The Board's decision in Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Inc., 371 NLRB No. 109 (2022), on the appropriateness of merit-determination dismissals of election petitions for egregious ULP charges The Board's notice that it will engage in rulemaking on the standard for determining joint employment The Board's invitation for briefs in American Steel Construction, Inc., 370 NLRB No. 41 (2021), on reconsidering the Board's standards for determining the appropriateness of bargaining units A number of General Counsel Abruzzo's important memoranda and arguments in briefs, including: Memorandum GC 21-04, setting out a long list of cases and subject matter areas that would be subject to the Office's "initiative" for change Memorandum GC 21-08, stating that scholarship football players at Northwestern University and those similarly situated are employees with Section 7 rights Memorandum GC 22-04 (and briefing in CEMEX Construction Materials Pacific LLC, 28-CA-230115) advocating that the Board abandon its toleration of "captive audience" meetings and proposing new safeguards for Section 7 rights Briefing in CEMEX Construction Materials Pacific LLC urging the Board to reinstate the Joy Silk doctrine New Problems for Discussion throughout the text based on other recent judicial and Board decisions