NLRB Initiates Rulemaking

Throughout its 75-year history, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has, with one exception, chosen to advance its interpretation of the law through decisions in individual cases. That approach, however, limits what the NLRB can do in terms of expansively changing its policy and its impact on employers.

Over the past few years, Chairman Liebman has been very vocal about the need for the NLRB to consider rulemaking as an alternative approach. She recently invited law professors to train NLRB employees in rulemaking procedures under the Federal Administrative Procedure Act. It was thus a foregone conclusion that at some point, the Obama Board would initiate rulemaking, and the only questions were when and in what area.