Quicken, NLRB case delayed by settlement talks

A hearing to determine if Quicken Loans' internal employee rules overly restrict the rights of its workers to discuss forming a union was postponed until at least early December amid talks to settle the case.

A trial before a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge was to have begun this week at the McNamara Federal Building in Detroit. But the trial was delayed as attorneys for Quicken and the NLRB's district office in Detroit attempted to settle the matter all day Monday.

This morning, attorneys told NLRB law judge David Goldman they needed more time, so Goldman postponed the hearing until at least the week of December 7 pending further developments.

The Detroit office of the NLRB, the New Deal-era federal agency that protects workers' rights to unionize, filed a complaint in July charging that the Quicken employee internal rules, known as the Big Book, overly restrict the rights of workers to discuss wages, working conditions, and related matter as a prelude to possibly forming a union.

The agency is not seeking monetary damages but wants Quicken to rewrite its employee rules and educate employees about their rights under the law.

Quicken has portrayed the case as an overreach by government lawyers and has called the complaint "completely absurd."

In recent years, the NLRB has sparred with various companies over restrictions on worker free speech, including use of social media such as Facebook to comment about their workplaces. The board settled recently with Wendy's International, for example, over employee rules it says restricted speech.

Remarks by attorneys for the NLRB and Quicken before Goldman Tuesday indicated that Quicken is willing to rewrite its Big Book rules to satisfy the NLRB. But the snag in reaching a settlement appeared to be how it may affect a separate wrongful termination case brought by a former employee, Hugh MacEachern of Taylor.

MacEachern was hired at Quicken in July 2013 after working there for several months as a temporary employee. He was fired in December 2014 after he told Quicken he was speaking with the Communications Workers of America about starting a union at Quicken. He claims Quicken fired him as retribution.

Contact John Gallagher: 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jgallagherfreep.