Supreme Court Case Has Big Implications For National Labor Relations Board

Tampa Partner Steve Bernstein was quoted in the Washington Post on January 14, 2014.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could invalidate hundreds of National Labor Relations Board rulings and set the agency back more than a year in its workload if it loses.

The NLRB v. Noel Canning case challenges a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision early last year that said President Barack Obama’s board appointments in 2012, which occurred while the Senate was on break, were unconstitutional.

Hundreds of NLRB rulings involving those panel members are now at stake.

The Supreme Court’s ruling will determine whether the NLRB has to revisit hundreds of labor disputes that were decided under the board members in question. That leaves scores of workers and their employers in limbo.

“Regardless of whether you’re in the business community or organized labor, you want to know that the agency is operating with legal authority,” said Steve. “You want to get it right the first time and make the results stick so you don’t face the possibility of waking up and doing it all over again.”

Read more.