29 CFR Part 101 - STATEMENTS OF PROCEDURES

The National Labor Relations Board (the Board) published a Request for Information in the Federal Register on December 14, 2017, seeking information from the public regarding its representation election regulations, with a specific focus on amendments to the Board's representation case procedures adopted by the Board's final rule published on December 15, 2014. The date to submit responses to the request for information is extended for three days as a result of the lapse in appropriations for the Federal government. The Board is also granting an additional 30 days to file responses to the request for information.

The National Labor Relations Board (the Board) is seeking information from the public regarding its representation election regulations (the Election Regulations), with a specific focus on amendments to the Board's representation case procedures adopted by the Board's final rule published on December 15, 2014 (the Election Rule or Rule). As part of its ongoing efforts to more effectively administer the National Labor Relations Act (the Act or the NLRA) and to further the purposes of the Act, the Board has an interest in reviewing the Election Rule to evaluate whether the Rule should be: Retained without change, retained with modifications, or rescinded, possibly while making changes to the prior Election Regulations that were in place before the Rule's adoption. Regarding these questions, the Board believes it will be helpful to solicit and consider public responses to this request for information.

On Monday, December 15, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board issued a final rule regarding representation case procedures, 79 FR 74307. Since the publication of the rule, a number of minor errors have been noted throughout the Supplementary Information preceding the amendatory language. The errata sheet below corrects those errors.

The National Labor Relations Board (the Board) has decided to issue this final rule for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act which “protect[ ] the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection.” While retaining the essentials of existing representation case procedures, these amendments remove unnecessary barriers to the fair and expeditious resolution of representation cases. They simplify representation-case procedures, codify best practices, and make them more transparent and uniform across regions. Duplicative and unnecessary litigation is eliminated. Unnecessary delay is reduced. Procedures for Board review are simplified. Rules about documents and communications are modernized in light of changing technology. In various ways, these amendments provide targeted solutions to discrete, specifically identified problems to enable the Board to better fulfill its duty to protect employees' rights by fairly, efficiently, and expeditiously resolving questions of representation.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) invites interested persons to attend a public meeting of the Board on April 10 and 11. The Board meeting will start at 9:30 a.m. on each day. The meeting will be held in the Margaret A. Browning Hearing Room (Room 11000), National Labor Relations Board, 1099 14th Street NW., Washington, DC 20570. During the meeting, persons who have previously requested to speak may share their views on the proposed amendments to the Board's rules governing representation case procedures, published at 79 FR 7318, and make other proposals for improving representation case procedures.

As part of its ongoing efforts to more effectively administer the National Labor Relations Act (the Act or the NLRA) and to further the purposes of the Act, the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) proposes to amend its rules and regulations governing the filing and processing of petitions relating to the representation of employees for purposes of collective bargaining with their employer. The Board believes that the proposed amendments would remove unnecessary barriers to the fair and expeditious resolution of questions concerning representation. The proposed amendments would simplify representation-case procedures and render them more transparent and uniform across regions, eliminate unnecessary litigation, and consolidate requests for Board review of regional directors' pre- and post-election determinations into a single, post-election request. The proposed amendments would allow the Board to more promptly determine if there is a question concerning representation and, if so, to resolve it by conducting a secret ballot election.

This final rule rescinds the amendments to the National Labor Relations Board's (the Board's) representation case procedures adopted by the Board's final rule of December 22, 2011, consistent with the district court's decision in Chamber of Commerce of the U.S. v. NLRB setting aside that rule. On December 9, 2013, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the Board's appeal of the district court's decision, pursuant to the parties' stipulation. Now that the district court's decision is no longer subject to appellate review, this final rule restores the relevant language in the CFR to that which existed before the Board issued the December 22, 2011 final rule.