The NLRB actions over the holidays have been very interesting. Please note our guest speaker Kelly Ekeler of Harding & Schultz will be addressing these changes at the Omaha and Lincoln networking luncheons.

Last weekPresident Obama went against decades of precedent and established legal interpretations and forced through a recess appointment of Richard Cordray to the Consumer Finance Protection Board.  In addition, the AP reports that the White House has made recess appointments to fill vacancies at the NLRB.  They are the appointments of Terence F. Flynn (R), Sharon Block (D) and Richard F. Griffin (D).  Senate Minority Leader McConnell has suggested that the president’s action here is likely illegal and violates the Constitution.  A legal challenge of any and all recess appointments is almost a certainty. 

These “recess appointments” are seen as necessary by Obama as the term of his controversial appointee Craig Becker had now expired.  This left the NRLB Board comprised of only two members, Chairman Mark Pearce (D), and Member Brian Hayes (R) and unable to function.  As a result, the Board shifted some of its authority to the General Counsel and the Board’s regional directors as a “no-quorum” contingency. Therefore, with the three new appointments the NRLB Board is now essentially operational with five members.

Also over the holidays, some updates to the new NLRB rules concerning (1) the ambush election rule and (2) the requirement to post a notice of employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).  For more information click on the respective topic.

*The ambush election rule

* The requirement to post a notice of employee rights