On July 16, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB” or the “Board”) General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, released GC Memorandum 24-05 to all field offices stating that the agency should continue “to aggressively seek Section 10(j) injunctions,” notwithstanding a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court raising the Board’s burden for seeking a temporary injunction. Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) authorizes the Board to seek temporary injunctive relief in federal district court while litigating the merits of an unfair labor practice proceeding to ensure that any remedy the Board might eventually issue will not be moot or hollow.
Supreme Court
Access Denied: Supreme Court Finds California Regulation Permitting Union Access to Employer Property Constitutes An Unconstitutional Taking
In a 6–3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held on June 23, 2021 that a California regulation granting labor organizers the “right to take access” to agricultural employers’ private property to solicit union support violated the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution. See Cedar Point Nursery et al. v. Hassid …
Supreme Court Holds that Lafe Solomon Improperly Served as NLRB General Counsel
The Supreme Court has dealt another blow to the stability of the National Labor Relations Board. In a 6-2 decision, in, National Labor Relations Board v. SW General, Inc. DBA Southwest Ambulance, USSC Case No. 15-1251 (March 21, 2017), the Court held that the NLRB’s prior Acting General Counsel, Lafe…
Noel Canning Oral Argument: Justices Express Skepticism
My experience is that oral arguments, while often interesting, rarely open much of a window into exactly how a court will actually decide the case. Today’s Supreme Court argument in NLRB v. Noel Canning may be an exception. Nearly all of the Justices had questions which suggested skepticism over the…
A Race to Nowhere: Supreme Court Dismisses Neutrality Agreement Case
Last month, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in UNITE HERE Local 355 v. Mulhall, a case claiming that a neutrality agreement violated § 302 of the Labor-Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 186, the anti-union bribery statute which makes it a crime for an employer to give…
Despite Supreme Court’s Grant of Review in Two Important Labor Cases, the Action in the Short Term is in the DC Circuit
It came as no surprise to most labor practitioners this week that the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s decision in NLRB v. Noel Canning, No. 12-1281. That case, of course, involves the validity of the President’s recess appointments…