On November 26, 2025, a New York federal judge granted Amazon’s bid for a preliminary injunction barring the enforcement of recent amendments to the Empire State’s State Employment Relations Act (“SERA”) that would have subjected most private-sector employers within the state to the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board (“PERB”).
Prior to passage of the “NLRB Trigger Bill” that amended SERA, PERB, which enforces state labor law, mainly oversaw public-sector employers in New York, though it also regulates labor relations for private-sector employers where federal laws – such as the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) – do not apply, such as for agricultural workers. SERA, generally, applies more employee-friendly standards than the NLRA.
With the injunction, most New York employers, unions, and employees return to the familiar forum of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) as the primary agency responsible for regulating labor relations in private employment.
Background
On September 5, 2025, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the SERA amendments, which sought to expand PERB’s jurisdiction to fill the gap at the NLRB, which currently lacks a quorum and, as a result, is unable to fully act, as we covered here.
With the amendments, SERA applied to NLRA-covered employees, except in cases where the NLRB “successfully asserts jurisdiction over any employer, employees, trades, or industries pursuant to an order by the federal district court.”
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