On February 27, 2026, the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB” or the “Board”) General Counsel, Crystal Carey, issued General Counsel Memorandum 26-03 (“GC 26-03”), which provides directives to NLRB Regional Offices concerning unfair labor practice (“ULP”) case processing. Among other things, GC 26-03 encourages Regional Offices to be less aggressive in policing alleged violations of Board law with respect to workplace rules.
Shortly before Carey issued GC 26-03, the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Solicitor of Labor, Jonathan Berry, issued a memorandum to the DOL’s Office of the Solicitor, instructing agency attorneys not to prioritize allegations of labor violations occurring in union workplaces. As reported by Bloomberg Law, the memorandum was issued internally meaning copies of the memorandum have not been made available to the public.
These memoranda signal the early stages of the Trump administration’s pursuit of certain policy changes to federal labor and employment law after just over one year in office.
The NLRB’s New Approach to Cases Alleging Unlawful Workplace Rules
Of particular significance to employers, Carey instructed Regional Offices to dial back the investigation and prosecution of ULP charges based “solely” on the maintenance of some potentially unlawful workplace rule or policy.
As we reported here, under the Biden administration, the Board established a strict standard for evaluating workplace rules in Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (2023)....
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