Full Stop for NLRB’s Speedy Election Rules

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has wide discretion on how to implement the National Labor Relations Act. But it turns out it needs a quorum to do so.

As noted by the Employer Law Report blog, “The NLRB was issued a stunning rebuke [May 14] by U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg (an Obama appointee) when he ruled that the NLRB’s controversial union election rule changes were invalid because they were enacted without the required three-member quorum.”

After that the Board itself reconsidered the new rule changes, which are aimed at streamlining the process for holding private sector union elections. Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce reiterated his support for the rule changes, pending review of legal options, but not just yet.

The rule changes, which were to take effect April 30, 2012, would narrow the focus of pre-union election hearings, consolidate appeals to the NLRB, and take other steps aimed at more quickly resolving issuing around employee representation, i.e., unionization.