With the election of President Trump in November 2024, employers were hopeful for a quick reversal of many of the pro-labor decisions of President Biden’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board). However, with President Trump’s termination of NLRB Board Member Gwynne Wilcox in January 2025 and the expiration of Member Marvin Kaplan’s term in August 2025, the Board was left with a single member for nearly all of President Trump’s first year. This lack of a quorum rendered the Board effectively defunct, which left the Board unable to change the Biden-era, labor-friendly precedent.
On December 18, 2025, the U.S. Senate confirmed James Murphy and Scott Mayer to the Board, providing it with a quorum. Although the confirmations left the Republicans with a 2-1 majority, shortly thereafter, the new majority indicated that they would follow longstanding Board tradition by not overruling precedent in the absence of a three-member majority. See Lodi Volunteer Ambulance Rescue Squad, Inc., 374 NLRB No. 26 at slip op. 3 n.3 (Jan. 28, 2026). This means employers will need to wait a little longer before controversial decisions may be overturned, like Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, 372 NLRB No. 130 (2023).
Cemex was one of the most significant Board rulings in decades. In short, Cemex makes it easier for unions to be certified without an NLRB secret-ballot election and sets forth a new framework for when employers must recognize a union. Under the previous standard,...
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