NLRB Changes to Obama-Era Labor Union Election Procedure Rules Partially Blocked by District Court

摘要

On May 30, District Court Judge for the District of Columbia Ketanji Brown Jackson issued a decision blocking major parts of the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) changes to the Obama-era "ambush election" rule of 2014. In December 2019, the NLRB released its changes to union representation election procedures as a final rule. Soon after, the AFLCIO filed a lawsuit against the rule on procedural grounds, arguing the NLRB violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) because it did not publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) which would have allowed the public to file comments about the proposal. The NLRB countered that the rule did not require an NPRM because this was a procedural rule the agency wished to follow.