As expected, Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) has reintroduced a
bill targeting the National Labor Relations Board's decision in
Specialty Healthcare, 357 NLRB No. 83 (2011). The
Representation Fairness Restoration Act (S.1217) would reinstate
the pre-2011 standard for determining which employees
belong in a particular bargaining unit. Rep. Francis Rooney
(R-FL) introduced a companion bill (H.R. 2629) in the House of
Representatives.
In the contentious Specialty Healthcare decision, the
Board adopted a new standard for assessing appropriate bargaining
units. Under the new standard, so long as a union's
petitioned-for unit consists of a "clearly identifiable"
group of employees, the Board will presume the unit is appropriate.
If an employer argues that the unit should include additional
employees, the employer must demonstrate that employees in a
proposed larger unit share an "overwhelming" community of
interest with those in the petitioned-for unit. This
