Google Can Challenge Joint Employer Status After NLRB Ruling (1)

The National Labor Relations Board ruled Google LLC illegally refused to bargain with its union representing writers and design analysts, a finding that will allow the tech giant to contest its workers’ union election and its joint-employer status in court.

A three-member NLRB panel said Wednesday that Google and subcontractor Accenture Flex must bargain with the Alphabet Workers Union-Communications Workers of America as joint employers. Google has argued that the company isn’t a direct employer of the Accenture employees and thus has no obligation to recognize their union.

An NLRB regional director certified the union election in 2023, which the board upheld a year later.

The ruling will allow Google to challenge the NLRB’s certification, which determined that it was a joint employer, in federal court. Federal labor law doesn’t allow companies to directly contest union certification in court. That can only happen after a company refuses to bargain with a union, initiating an unfair labor practice charge that can then be challenged.

In a filing to the board last year, Google said that its “only option” to challenge the “incorrect” joint employer ruling was to refuse to bargain with the union.

Google said that since the union certification, the tech company no longer maintains wage and benefits standards for Accenture employees, a “critical factor” supporting the board’s joint-employer finding, according to the NLRB decision.

“The joint employer status of the Respondents was fully litigated and resolved in the underlying representation proceeding,” the board said in a footnote. “The Respondent has not presented any newly discovered or previously unavailable evidence.”

The Alphabet Workers Union is an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America. The CWA is affiliated with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, which represents employees of Bloomberg Law.

A spokesperson for Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Accenture d/b/a Accenture Flex, and Google, LLC/Alphabet Inc., as joint employers, N.L.R.B. Reg’l Dir., Case 20-CA-353557, 4/8/26.