NLRB Issues New Proposed "Quickie" Election Rules

After an unsuccessful effort to implement new election rules in 2011, the NLRB has issued proposed election rules that would substantially speed up the existing union election process.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) announced on February 5 that it will issue new proposed election rules that would substantially change—and speed up—the existing union election process.¹ The NLRB stated that these proposed rules are identical in substance to those proposed by the Board in June 2011. Some of the 2011 proposed rules were implemented for a short time in April 2012, but they were struck down in May 2012 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia because the Board lacked a quorum when it decided to adopt them. The district court's decision left open the issue of whether the Board could have issued the election rules with a Board quorum.²