A Precedent Erasing Bonanza: NLRB Update, 3rd Quarter, 2023

HR Policy Association has released the seventh edition of its quarterly NLRB Report. The report provides a comprehensive update of law and policy developments at the National Labor Relations Board, including perhaps the most consequential batch of new decisions adverse to employers to date.

The third quarter of 2023 saw the Board continue its breakneck pace of erasing federal labor law precedent. In one particular decision, the Board upended decades of precedent and effectively codified union card check recognition in practice – perhaps the most radical departure from traditional federal labor law in recent memory. 

Eight of the ten Board decisions this quarter involved changes in precedent, by far the most in any NLRB Report to date. Collectively, those eight decisions alone erased over 80 years of federal labor law precedent. Not stopping there, the Board also issued new union election procedural rules that streamline the process for unions to obtain election dates and reduce the amount of time and the number of avenues employers have to counter a union’s campaign. 

In the span of a few short months, the labor relations legal landscape has been turned completely on its head with potentially severe consequences for employers. Meanwhile, more radical change awaits on the horizon. 

READ THE FULL REPORT