Federal Court Invalidates NLRB’s New Union Election Rule!
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling last week invalidating the NLRB’s new election rule. The court held that the rule was not properly adopted because the NLRB lacked a quorum when it voted to adopt the rule. Only two NLRB members voted on the rule. A third had voiced opposition to the rule and made clear that his position was to oppose the rule’s adoption. However, he did not actually participate in the vote. According to the court, this resulted in the lack of a quorum and rendered the rule’s adoption ineffective. As a result of the court’s holding, for now the new election rule is invalid and representative elections will proceed under the old rules. It is of course possible that the NLRB will simply hold a new vote on the election rule, and employers will be back in the same position shortly only to await legal rulings on substantive challenges to the election rule.
On the heels of the federal court decision invalidating the NLRB’s new election rule that had taken effect April 30, the NLRB announced today that it is suspending implementation of the rule as a result of the court decision. The NLRB stated that it is reviewing the court decision and considering how it will respond. We’ll keep you posted on any further developments. However, for now, do not be concerned about putting up the union election posters.
