We have been tracking the wave of constitutional challenges to the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB” or “Board”) structure and the divergent injunction standards emerging across circuits. (See here, here, here and here.)
In the latest development, on October 31, 2025, the Office and Professional Employees International
On November 6, 2025, the Eighth Circuit vacated and remanded a split decision from the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”), holding that the Board improperly rejected Home Depot’s “special circumstances” and business-justification defenses to banning an employee’s BLM message on a customer-facing apron.
We previously covered the factual
On October 31, 2025, the Fifth Circuit held that the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) impermissibly awarded compensatory damages to striking employees who were fired. As we reported here, the court’s ruling widens a circuit split between the Third and Ninth Circuits on available remedies under the
On October 28, 2025, the Ninth Circuit, in a unanimous, published decision, rejected three key constitutional attacks on the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”), some of which have gained favor in other circuit courts, making it harder—for now—for employers to challenge Board proceedings in that jurisdiction. This decision
On September 30, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 288, which amends the state’s labor law and significantly expands the power of its Public Employment Relations Board (“PERB”) to cover private-sector employees currently under the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”).
Under
The Ninth Circuit’s recent resurrection of Trader Joe’s trademark infringement suit over an independent union’s sale of apparel, mugs, tote bags, and other labor-branded merchandise that allegedly infringed the company’s intellectual property highlights key issues at the intersection of federal labor and IP law.
The case, Trader Joe’s Co. v.
On September 5, 2025, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law what is dubbed an “NLRB Trigger Bill” amending the New York State Labor Relations Act. The statute itself is hardly a model of clarity, but its sponsors describe it as an effort to expand the jurisdiction
On July 24, 2025, William B. Cowen, the Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”), issued GC Memorandum 25-08 to the Board’s 26 regional offices providing guidance on determining if an employment applicant in the salting context is protected by the National Labor Relations Act