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NLRB Takes Initial Steps to End Ambush/"Quickie" Election Rule


For those readers who have been following this blog for a while, let us take a step back to 2015.  Back then, President Barack Obama was nearing the end of his second term.  The National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") had a pro-employee/union tilt and employers were reeling from several decisions that had been issued.  One of those that was considered to be quite ground breaking was the NLRB's ambush election rule (aka "quickie" elections.)  That rule sped up the time frame in which a union election could occur by shortening the time between the filing of a certification petition and the commencement of an NLRB secret ballot election.  As a result, union elections could occur within 21 days of the filing of a certification petition which would limit the time in which employers could prepare for an election.  A common line of reasoning follows that with a shorter window between the filing of a certification petition and the actual election, the less time employers would have to counter any information distributed in favor of unionization.

Needless to say, employers have struggled to find ways to overcome these new ambush/"quickie" election rules since that time.  A week ago, a request for information was published in the Federal Register that asked whether the NLRB should revise the rule or get rid of it altogether.  (The decision to issue the request for information was approved 3 - 2 by the NLRB's conservative members.  While this does not in and of itself indicate that the NLRB will do away with this rule, it would not surprise me that with a conservative majority and a president intent on protecting employers, this ambush/"quickie" election rule might have its days numbered.


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