NLRB Will Not Pursue Workplace Rights Poster Any Further
Topics: Union-Management Relations
Yesterday, the NLRB announced that it will not seek Supreme Court review of the two Court of Appeals decisions invaliding the NLRB’s 2011 posting rule requiring private sector employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act to post a 11x17” poster outlining employees’ rights under the Act. In both of the Court of Appeals decisions, National Association of Manufacturers v. NLRB, 717 F.3d 947 (DC Cir. 2013), and Chamber of Commerce v. NLRB, 721 F.3d 152 (4th Cir. 2013), the appellate courts held that the NLRB exceeded its jurisdiction when it promulgated the posting rule and invalidated it. Most expected the NLRB to seek writs of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court on those decisions. The time for doing so expired on January 2, 2013. Yesterday, the NLRB announced that it would no longer be pursing the matter with an announcement on its website.
The NLRB may have given up this particular battle. However, we believe that the Board will continue to try to find new and imaginative ways to expand unionization, make it easier for employees to organize, and expand its reach into the non-union workplace through rulemaking and other creative measures. These activities will lead to further court battles, as employers’ groups test the scope of the NLRB’s authority and jurisdiction and challenge its broad pro-union interpretations of the NLRA. Union and non-union employers would be wise to continue to monitor the activities of the NLRB through at least the rest of the Obama administration in order to understand where the NLRB is looking to make its presence felt in both sectors.
