Quickie Election Procedures and Timeline Takes Effect Today

Topics: Union-Management Relations

This is just a quick reminder that effective today all NLRB elections will be conducted under the new election rules.  These rules call for substantially shorter election periods (from the time of the election petition until the actual voting), electronic notice provisions, union rights to employee email addresses and other contact information, and many other changes.  The NLRB has published a good summary of the new rules in their fact sheet which can be accessed here.

Given these new rules, if your organization is worried about union activity or organization, you must act immediately upon notice of any organizing activity to make sure you have sufficient time to react and present your views and position to your employees.  With elections now proceeding on 3 week time frames (from petition to voting) and with a significant amount of work to be done with the NLRB during that time, waiting until an election petition is received will no longer be an effective strategy.