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Compliance October 23, 2003
NLRB: Firm Can Withhold ESPP Data
October 23, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A company was
within its rights when it held back information from a union
about participants in the firm's Employee Stock Purchase Plan
(ESPP) as well as those solicited to participate.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
That was the upshot of a two to one ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which decided that the ESPP was not a subject of mandatory bargaining because it did not constitute “wages,” and did not operate as a retirement plan, according to a CCH report. Member Dennis Walsh dissented, arguing that the ESPP, which provides its employees with substantial advantages related to their purchase of their employer’s stock, is a mandatory bargaining subject.
Member Peter Schaumber concluded that the ESPP did not
constitute “wages” because employees received no
“emolument of value.” The ESPP was also not a “condition
of employment” because it did not operate as a retirement
plan.
In his dissent, Walsh argued that the ability of
employees under the ESPP to buy and sell stock in their
employer without requiring the services of a broker and
without incurring brokerage fees, “is clearly a benefit
for them when compared to their inability to buy and sell
stock in publicly traded companies without requiring the
services of a broker and the payment of brokerage
fees.”
He pointed out that this benefit to the employees under the ESPP is exclusively available to them because they are the [employer’s] employees. “This ESPP benefit is, therefore, a term and condition of their employment, and thus a mandatory subject of bargaining,” Walsh asserted.
The case is Pieper Electric, Inc, PPC Holdings, Inc .