NLRB Returns to Full Slate of Confirmed Members (AGC.org)

As expected, on July 30 the Senate confirmed four new appointees to be members of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”) and reconfirmed the current chairman for a new term.  This brings the Board to a full complement of confirmed members for the first time in a decade.  The Board had been operating with only one confirmed member (Chairman Mark Pearce) and two arguably invalid recess appointees – all three Democrats – since December.

The new members include two Democrats and two Republicans.  The Democrats are Nancy Schiffer, recently retired associate general counsel of the AFL-CIO, and Kent Hirowaza, chief counsel to NLRB Chairman Mark Pearce.  The Republicans are Philip Miscimarra and Harry Johnson, III, both management-side labor lawyers with large law firms.  Along with Pearce, a Democrat, this gives the President’s party a three-to-two majority, as is traditional with a full Board.

Accordingly, and as reported earlier, the new Board is likely to continue the pattern of issuing decisions favoring organized labor and curtailing management rights that has developed throughout the Obama Administration.  With two Republicans in place for the first time in a year, though, we are likely to again see dissenting opinions that are useful in court challenges to Board decisions.  The new Board will also have the opportunity to advance its stalled “quickie election rule,” a regulation that would expedite the election process in union representation cases.

- Jim Young (AGC of America)