Happy New Year at the NLRB!

January 06, 2012

Well, 2012 is certainly off to a momentous start at the NLRB! Employers should be aware of three recent developments at the National Labor Relations Board.

• Employee Rights Poster: The requirement that most employers put up an Employee Rights Poster has been delayed again. This requirement is now slated to take effect on April 30, 2012. As we previously reported, the prior deadline was January 31, 2012. The postponement is at the request of a federal court, which is currently hearing a legal challenge to the rule. See NLRB Announcement.

• Quickie Election Rule: A rule designed to speed up representation elections (and potentially disadvantage employers in the process), was passed by the NLRB and published in the Federal Register on December 22, 2011. Like the poster requirement, this rule is scheduled to take effect in April 2012. This rule will likely reduce the current time frame from petition to election significantly. See NLRB Announcement.

• New faces: Perhaps most importantly, and despite the fact that the U.S. Senate is technically not in recess, President Obama made three recess appointments to the NLRB. Recess appointments bypass the normal Senate confirmation process, and have been used by Presidents past to install appointees where the Senate has not acted on their appointments for whatever reason. The appointments consist of two Democrats and an NLRB chief counsel, who happens to be a Republican. This new makeup of the NLRB will likely break the existing gridlock, but that does not bode well for employers. See NLRB Announcement.

Please contact Matt Raynes at our Bangor, Maine office with questions.

This alert is provided as general information, and is not a substitute for legal or other professional advice.