The National Labor Relations Board has extended the time for filing responses to its request for information regarding its 2014 election rule. The new date for submissions is Monday, March 19, 2018. In that request for information, the NLRB asked three questions:
- Should the 2014 Election Rule be retained without change?
- Should the 2014 Election Rule be retained with modifications? If so, what should be modified?
- Should the 2014 Election Rule be rescinded? If so, should the Board revert to the Representation Election Regulations that were in effect prior to the 2014 Election Rule’s adoption, or should the Board make changes to the prior Representation Election Regulations? If the Board should make changes to the prior Representation Election Regulations, what should be changed?
The amendments, which took effect on April 14, 2015, allowed union organizing to move at an accelerated pace by, among other things, significantly reducing the time between the filing of a representation petition and the election from an average of approximately six weeks to an average of 23 days. Other provisions create substantial burdens on employers by requiring, within seven days, the submission of an onerous Statement of Position addressing all potential bargaining unit issues, the provision of copious amounts of information regarding potential voters, and deferring critical election issues, such as supervisory status issues, until after the election is held.
While the Board’s stated purpose in adopting the 2014 rules was to simplify representation-case procedures, the rules placed substantial pressure on employers to make critical decisions and produce important documentation within tight deadlines. By compressing the time period between the filing of the petition and the election, the rules also eliminated much of an employer’s ability to communicate with its employees about unionization issues.
The official Request for Information as approved by the Board, including the dissenting views, may be found here. Instructions for filing responses are available here on the NLRB’s website.
Action Items for Employers
Jackson Lewis, a nationwide management labor law firm whose attorneys have represented employers in thousands of NLRB representation case matters, is analyzing the rules to make recommendations to employers or employer groups about the best courses of action. Employers and employer groups who wish to comment will have a full opportunity to do so, either singly or in conjunction with labor counsel experienced in representing employers in representation cases.
If you or an industry group of which you are part desire further information or guidance or representation in submitting comments, please contact Philip Rosen, Jon Spitz, Thomas Walsh, Howard Bloom or the Jackson Lewis attorney with whom you regularly work.