On June 27, President Trump nominated labor attorney William J. Emanuel to fill the last vacancy of the five seats on the National Labor Relations Board. Emanuel is a management-side labor attorney who has practiced many years before the Board. Emanuel has extensive experience arguing in support of employee class and collective action waivers, including involvement in multiple cases that have either been before the Supreme Court or directly led to precedent that the Supreme Court is now set to consider.
As we have said in previous posts, President Trump’s election and now nomination of two NLRB members could signal a tide turn in favor of employers before the Board. Emanuel’s nomination comes a little over a week after Trump nominated attorney Marvin E. Kaplan to the Board on June 19. If confirmed by the Senate, Emanuel and Kaplan would give the NLRB its first Republican majority since 2008. With a likely more employer-friendly majority, the NLRB could be poised to roll back some of the previous administration’s labor initiatives.