The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has blocked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from implementing five provisions of the rule changes it announced in December 2019. On June 1, 2020, the NLRB published a news release stating that “it will implement in full all of the rule changes unaffected by the recent U.S. District Court order.”
The NLRB is a federal agency that protects the rights of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve their wages, hours and working conditions. In December 2019, the NLRB changed the “quickie election rules” previously implemented during the Obama administration, which had resulted in union representation elections being held in shorter periods of time and often without the employer having an opportunity to run a counter-campaign against the union that was organizing its employees.
The AFL-CIO labor union challenged the December 2019 rule changes on the basis that the NLRB failed to satisfy the required public notice and comment period under the Administrative Procedure Act. The NLRB maintains that it complied with all legal requirements in issuing the December rule changes, and that it intends to appeal the court’s order.
The NLRB news release identifies which remaining rule changes “are effective immediately, pursuant to the rule’s May 31 effective date.” The NLRB General Counsel also published a Guidance Memorandum regarding implementation of the new rules.