Labor Relations Update

Category Archives: Representation Elections

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Update: Despite Order Striking Down Portions of NLRB Rulemaking on Representation Election Procedures, NLRB Implements Rules Unaffected by Order

By Steven Porzio, Joshua Fox, Heylee Bernstein and Austin McLeod on Posted in NLRB Election Rules, Representation Elections
On Sunday, we reported on an eleventh-hour district court order striking down large portions of the NLRB’s new representation election rules that were set to go into effect on May 31, 2020. The district court order held certain portions of the rule were unlawful because they failed to follow proper notice-and-comment rulemaking as required for … Continue Reading

Breaking: Federal Court Strikes Down New NLRB Rules on Representation Election Procedures; Implementation Delayed and Status of the Rules Uncertain

By Michael Lebowich, Joshua Fox and Heylee Bernstein on Posted in NLRB Election Rules, Representation Elections
After an initial COVID-19 related delay, the sweeping new NLRB representation election rules that reversed the Obama-era “quickie” election process were about to go into effect on May 31, 2020.  However, an eleventh-hour district court order struck down a significant portion of the rule as unlawfully implemented for failing to follow proper administrative procedure, casting … Continue Reading

NLRB Establishes Bright-Line Rule Voiding Election Ballots with Dual or Additional Markings

By Mark Theodore and Scott Tan on Posted in NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections
One area of controversy over the years is the NLRB’s attempt to interpret markings on representation ballots that are not clearly “yes” or “no.”  This has given rise to a number of tests for divining voter intent.  Overruling decades of conflicting precedent involving the interpretation of a voter’s intent, the NLRB issued a key decision … Continue Reading

NLRB: Hearings in Representation Cases with Witnesses Must Be Conducted By Videoconference during COVID-19 Pandemic

By Mark Theodore, Joshua Fox and Thomas B. Fiascone on Posted in NLRA, NLRB, NLRB Election Rules, Representation Elections
As most of the country’s workforce continues to adjust to the new realities of social distancing, stay-at-home orders, and limited travel, the practice of law and the forums for adjudicating disputes have shifted to video and telephonic hearings to ensure that the wheels of justice continue to turn notwithstanding COVID-19.  The NLRB has been no … Continue Reading

BREAKING: NLRB Announces Representation Elections Will Resume April 6, 2020

By Mark Theodore and Scott Tan on Posted in NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections
On March 19, 2020, the NLRB announced that it was suspending all representation elections through April 3, 2020.  The Board stated that the suspension was necessary to ensure the safety of its own employees, as well as those members of the public involved in the elections. Today, the Board announced that it will not extend … Continue Reading

NLRB Suspends Representation Elections through April 3, 2020 due to COVID-19 Pandemic

By Michael Lebowich and Joshua Fox on Posted in Coronavirus, NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections
The NLRB announced today in a press release that “[d]ue to the extraordinary circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” all representation elections, including mail ballot elections, will be suspended for the next two weeks, through and including April 3, 2020.  This means that any representation elections previously scheduled from now through April 3, 2020 will … Continue Reading

NLRB Announces Three Proposed Rulemaking Amendments Aimed at Overhauling Union Election Procedures – With More to Come!

By Mark Theodore, Joshua Fox and Meika Freeman on Posted in Decertification elections, NLRA, NLRB, NLRB Election Rules, Representation Elections, Rulemaking
The National Labor Relations Board published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) on Monday, August 12, 2019, proposing three amendments to its current rules and regulations aimed at addressing representation election procedures – with potentially more to come.  The NLRB made sweeping changes to the election procedures through rulemaking in 2014, which have been criticized as … Continue Reading

New Joint-Employer Standard Properly Developed But Improperly Applied, Rules Federal Appeals Court

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Bargaining units, Collective Bargaining, NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections, Uncategorized
There have been many precedent changing decisions coming from the NLRB in the last few years.  Few of these changes were more hotly contested, or farther reaching, than the Board’s decision in Browning-Ferris where it altered its longstanding joint employer test.  The new joint-employer test made it much more likely for a joint-employer relationship to be found to exist.  The decision … Continue Reading

Decertification Petition Was Improperly Dismissed, NLRB Rules

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Decertification elections, NLRA, NLRB, Protected activity, Representation Elections, Section 8(a)(1), Section 8(a)(5), Uncategorized, Unfair Labor Practices
Recently, we explored how the NLRB’s rules for determining the timeliness of a representation can be confusing.  Another area of complexity comes from whether a decertification petition will be processed in the face of unfair labor practice charges filed by the incumbent union.  This implicates the Board’s “blocking policy,” which is a set of guidelines designed to address … Continue Reading

Employer’s Representation Petition Not Barred By Existence of Signed Contract, Divided NLRB Rules

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Collective Bargaining, Decertification elections, NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections, Uncategorized
As we have noted at times, the human element in labor relations makes for interesting situations.  One of the more interesting issues is the timeliness of representation petitions, which, despite the existence of clear rules, can still be disrupted by human action. A union, an employee or an employer can all file a representation petition with … Continue Reading

“Micro-Units” Eliminated: NLRB Overturns Specialty Healthcare

By Michael Lebowich and Lee Douthitt on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections, Specialty Healthcare
Adding to the list of falling precedents in the waning days of Chairman Miscimarra’s term, on Friday, the NLRB reversed another of the seminal decisions of the Obama-Board when it overruled the highly controversial Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 357 NLRB 934 (2011) decision.   The 3-2 decision in PCC Structurals, Inc., 365 NLRB … Continue Reading

NLRB Hints That “Ambush” Election Regulations May Be Rescinded

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, NLRB Election Rules, Representation Elections, Rulemaking
Things are moving fast and furiously at the NLRB.  Last week we saw the new General Counsel issue a sweeping memo which rescinded many policy guidelines and initiatives of his predecessor and highlighted the Board precedent from the last eight years that may be overturned. This week the NLRB posted a Request For Information on its … Continue Reading

NLRB’s Micro-Union Standard May Be Set For Reversal

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections, Section 9(a), Specialty Healthcare
Change is coming.  We noted recently that the administration is thinking about changing the newly adopted persuader regulations.  We also know that a majority of make-up of the NLRB is likely to shift very soon, and with it some of the precedents of the last few years will be reversed.  Newly appointed Chairman Miscimarra seems to be reiterating what … Continue Reading

17 Year Old Ruling In Representation Case Can Preclude New Claim For Employees, Divided NLRB Rules

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, NLRB Election Rules, Non-Union employers, Representation Elections, Rulemaking, Specialty Healthcare
Of all the changes to the law the NLRB has made in the last several years, the most significant involve how the agency determines bargaining units.  For example, the NLRB’s decision in Specialty Healthcare drastically altered the manner in which bargaining units were determined by the Regional Directors and the NLRB.  Also, the NLRB’s ambush election rules also … Continue Reading

Higher Education Alert: NLRB Trend in Easing Unionization Continues with Recent Decision

By Edward Brill and Andrew Rice on Posted in Bargaining units, NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections
The National Labor Relations Board issued a 3-2 decision last month in Pacific Lutheran University, 361 NLRB No. 157, in which it significantly modified the standards for determining:  (1) whether college or university faculty members are managerial employees and thus not protected by the National Labor Relations Act; and (2) when the Board should decline to exercise … Continue Reading

NLRB Issues Final Election Rules Revision

By Ronald Meisburg on Posted in NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections
As anticipated, the National Labor Relations Board today made public its final revised election rules.  The new rules will become effective 120 days following their publication in the Federal Register.  The publication date is scheduled to be Monday, December 15, 2014, one day before the expiration of the term of Member Schiffer. There are really … Continue Reading

NLRB Refines Its Test for Independent Contractor Status

By Ronald Meisburg on Posted in Bargaining units, Collective Bargaining, Representation Elections
The National Labor Relations Board, with one member dissenting, has issued a decision in which it “refines” the test it uses for determining whether it will find individuals performing services for an employer to be employees, who are covered by the National Labor Relations Act, or independent contractors, who are not.  The case is FedEx … Continue Reading

¿Cómo Se Dice: “Lost in Translation”?

By Ronald Meisburg on Posted in Decertification elections, Objectionable Conduct, Representation Elections
Labor law is filled with many technical rules, the meaning of which can sometimes can be lost in translation.  The recent NLRB decision in Labriola Baking Co., 361 N.L.R.B. No. 41 (2014), is a case in point. During a campaign before a decertification election, an employer’s representative stated in a speech to the employees:  “If you … Continue Reading

NLRB Gets #SocialMedia: Board and ALJ Rulings Recap

By Ronald Meisburg on Posted in General Counsel, NLRA, NLRB, Objectionable Conduct, Protected activity, Social Media, Social Media Policies, Unfair Labor Practices
‘April rulings bring May muddling’ might be a better way to tweet recent social media decisions at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) given the Board’s ruling in Durham School Services (April 25, 2014) and an Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) opinion in Kroger Co. of Michigan (April 21, 2014).  Together, these two decisions show that the … Continue Reading

They’re Ba-ack: NLRB to Re-Propose Election Regulations

By Ronald Meisburg on Posted in NLRA, NLRB, Representation Elections, Rulemaking
As expected, the NLRB has announced that it is again proposing regulations to amend its representation case election procedures.  A copy of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking submitted to the Federal Register for publication can be viewed here.  The proposed regulations appear identical to those the Board attempted to promulgate in 2011. At that time the Board … Continue Reading

One Step Backward for NLRB Election Rules

By Ronald Meisburg on Posted in NLRB, Representation Elections, Rulemaking
The NLRB has agreed to voluntarily dismiss its D.C. Circuit appeal in the so-called “ambush” election rules case.  The voluntary dismissal of the appeal effectively renders the Board’s previously promulgated election rules a dead letter.  But this may be a case of one step backward, two steps forward, for the Board. The case was on appeal from a federal district court decision holding … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Upholds Board’s Decision in Specialty Healthcare

By Ronald Meisburg on Posted in Bargaining units, Representation Elections, Uncategorized
In the first judicial challenge to the NLRB’s Specialty Healthcare decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has upheld the Board. In Specialty Healthcare the Board held that it will find a petitioned for unit appropriate where the unit is made up of (i) an identifiable group of employees (ii) who share a community of interest with … Continue Reading

NLRB Rules That Union’s Offer To Waive Dues For Six Months To Make Up For Tiny Wage Increase Did Not Interfere With Decertification Election

By Mark Theodore on Posted in Collective Bargaining, Employer policies, Handbook, NLRA, NLRB, Objectionable Conduct, Recess appointments, Representation Elections, Uncategorized
As of July 31, the NLRB has a full complement of Board Members, for the first time in about ten years.  The fact the deal on appointments has been progressing for a few weeks did not prohibit the three member Board of questionable constitutional validity from continuing to render decisions. The NLRB recently ruled that … Continue Reading

NLRB Upholds One Election, Overturns Another In Pair Of Decisions

By Mark Theodore on Posted in NLRA, NLRB, Objectionable Conduct, Representation Elections, Uncategorized
The very real questions about the NLRB’s decision-making authority may have finally slowed the agency down.  We have come to expect over the last few years, a relentless expansion of NLRB authority and reach, especially given the December timeframe when all sorts of surprises seem to come out of the agency.  So, it is somewhat noteworthy … Continue Reading
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