The National Labor Relations Board recently reasserted its jurisdiction over the River Casino Resort owned by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians of Michigan. The tribe said it abides by its own set of labor laws, the Fair Employment Practices Code, which applies to the casino and other reservation enterprises.
In a motion to the NLRB, the tribe wrote that the Fair Employment Practices Code’s labor laws “are fully operational, with parties relying upon them to govern labor relations, generally, and to negotiate and establish the terms and conditions of continuing employment relations under collective bargaining agreements, specifically. They are the product of lengthy legislative processes within the band’s governing tribal council and the deliberations of its regulatory commission. Thus, they reflect important public policy choices about such things as the conditions under which collective bargaining should take place, the mandatory subjects of bargaining when it does, definitions of unfair labor practices and the procedures for resolving them.”
Although the National Labor Relations Act does not mention tribes or tribal enterprises, the NLRB stated the tribe is subject to the law and its Fair Employment Practices Code is in violation of it. In its recent decision, the NLRB said, “The respondent has interfered with, restrained and coerced employees of the Little River Casino Resort by publishing and maintaining provisions of the Fair Employment Practices Code. We shall order the respondent to refrain from applying the unlawful provisions of its Fair Employment Practices Code and regulations to the Little River Casino Resort, employees of the resort or any labor organization that may represent those employees.”
Actually the decision reaffirms the NLRB’s March 2013 decision. Due to a technicality, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated that ruling and returned the dispute to the NLRB. The tribe can challenge the ruling in court.
