NLRB Back to Republican Majority
On April 11, 2018, the United States Senate narrowly confirmed the appointment of John Ring to the National Labor Relations Board by a 50-48 party line vote. Mr. Ring is a management-side labor lawyer. The confirmation vote restores the 3-2 Republican majority on the NLRB.
When Republican appointees last held a 3-2 majority toward the end of 2017, albeit briefly, the NLRB overruled several Obama-era decisions, including the standards to evaluate handbook rules and the elimination of micro-bargaining units. With the confirmation of Mr. Ring, the NLRB can now once again issue decisions reversing other NLRB case law and regulations which have not been favorable to employers. Some rules potentially on the chopping block are the current union election rules which fast track union elections so that employers have less time to respond to them. The newly constituted NLRB will also likely reconsider the current joint employer rule which imposes liability on a company as a joint employer if it has potential authority to exercise control over another company’s employees, regardless if it actually exercised such control.
We will continue to monitor developments in this area.
For more information, or if you have any questions regarding this topic or any other labor and employment topic, you may contact Archer attorney Douglas Diaz, Esquire at ddiaz@archerlaw.com or one of Archer’s other experienced labor and employment law attorneys in Haddonfield, N.J., at (856) 795-2121, in Princeton, N.J., at (609) 580-3700, in Hackensack, N.J., at (201) 342-6000, in Philadelphia, Pa., at (215) 963-3300, or in Wilmington, Del., at (302) 777-4350.