Paul Galligan and Brian Murphy Published in the New York Law Journal
"Policies to Solicit on Property or Use E-mail"

Paul Galligan and Brian Murphy’s article, "Policies to Solicit on Property or Use E-mail," was published in the November 20, 2008 issue of the New York Law Journal. In their article, Paul and Brian discuss how in the past year, two significant decisions from two different forums have solidified the ability of employers seeking to prohibit union activity on their property: Salmon Run Shopping Center LLC v. NLRB and The Guard Publishing Company d/b/a The Register-Guard. In the Salmon Run case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit significantly undermined the ability of organized labor to gain access to shopping malls to solicit mall customers, even if shopping mall owners permit other forms of solicitation, such as charitable drives. While in the Register-Guard decision, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) used a similar restrictive analysis of what constitutes discriminatory enforcement of a "business only" e-mail policy, curtailed the ability of employees to use an employer's e-mail system to engage in union activity. According to the authors, "While Salmon Run addresses the rights of unions to gain access to employer property and Register-Guard addresses the rights of employees to use their company's e-mail systems to engage in union activity, both decisions provide a fillip for employers seeking to prohibit union activity on their property."