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Print articleNLRB Roundup: A Year in Review, and a Look Ahead
February, 2013 - Arthur T. Carter, Alex Stevens, A. John Harper III
The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) began 2013 as it began 2012, facing questions regarding whether a quorum of its members had been constitutionally appointed. As we noted in our February 3, 2012 NLRB Roundup, President Obama made three controversial “recess” appointments to the Board to restore its quorum. Now, a year later, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals recently addressed the validity of these appointments and declared them invalid. This decision has called into question many of the Board’s 2012 decisions.
The D.C. Circuit’s decision is especially significant because during 2012, the Board issued a number of notable decisions affecting employers, whether or not they are unionized. Decisions of note continued to focus on work rules and workplace investigation procedures. The Board also took several noteworthy actions outside of issuing decisions, such as launching a public relations effort to highlight the rights of all employees to engage in “protected concerted activity,” releasing a summary of its investigations into social media cases, and continuing to attempt to require employers to post a notice informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or “Act”). Do these actions still stand? How should employers proceed in 2013?
Footnotes: If you have any questions, please contact one of the following members of our Labor and Employmentor Traditional Labor Law Practice Groups:
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