An effort by the New York legislature to usurp the role of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the main federal labor law enforcement agency, has been dealt a major blow by the courts. However, Congress still needs to act to prevent similar ploys by other states, most notably California.
Unions have been pushing labor-friendly states to pass laws allowing state officials to take over workplace enforcement matters when the NLRB cannot respond in a timely manner. New York and California have been leading in this effort, passing laws to that effect in September. The laws give unions a potentially major legal advantage over businesses in workplace disputes, including contested union elections.
The laws would only come into play if the NLRB itself is inactive, but that’s been an increasingly common phenomenon in recent years. The NLRB’s five-member board is currently down to just one member due to a combination of members’ terms expiring, some firings by the Trump administration, and slow Senate confirmations. The NLRB consequently lacks a quorum to act. The proposed laws from California and New York are intended to exploit this.
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that New York’s law was unconstitutional. The ruling said that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the law that created the NLRB, does not allow for any other entities to usurp its federal role. The ruling puts California’s law in similar peril, though it may be a long while before the courts fully resolve...
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