The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a ruling
last week that has tremendous impact on businesses and labor
relations.
In Noel Canning v. NLRB, the appeals court invalidated
President Obama's appointment of three members to the National
Labor Relations Board. The court held that the purported
"recess" appointments, which led to a number of pro-union
decisions, violated the U.S. Constitution because they were made
when the Senate was not actually in recess, for vacancies that did
not occur during the Senate's recess.
This ruling now puts into doubt an array of recent NLRB
decisions that many have called part of an activist
agenda.
For example, the NLRB has broadly interpreted board law to now
place significant restrictions on an employer's right to
prohibit its employees from disparaging their employer through
social media. This is just one in a long list of decisions that
have had a detrimental effect on business.
