NLRB Issues Changes to Representation Case Procedures
If you regularly deal with union concepts, read on! Otherwise you may find this a tad wonky…
After some three years into the current administration, the NLRB (“Board”) has issued new election rules that reverse or modify rules put in place during the Obama administration. The Obama era rules, commonly referred to as the “fast track” or “quickie” election rules, were the subject of controversy and debate between the business community and organized labor prior to their becoming law in 2014. The stated policy objectives for the Obama era rules were “to simplify and modernize” the Board’s election procedures for determining employee desire for union representation, establish “greater transparency and consistency” in administration of those procedures, and provide for a more “fair and expeditious resolution” of NLRB election cases; however, the business community objected to the Obama era rules primarily because they imposed procedural and substantive limits on the types of issues that can be adjudicated in a pre-election hearing, and shortened the time frame within which such hearings were to occur.
The new rules became effective December 18, 2019. Set forth below is a summary of the more significant aspects of the new rules and how those rules differ from those previously in place.
