Tomorrow, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will publish a Request for Information (RFI) in the Federal Register, asking for public input regarding the board’s 2014 Election Rule, which modified the board’s representation-election procedures located at 29 CFR parts 101 and 102. The board will seek information from interested parties regarding three questions:
NLRB Chair Philip Miscimarra
1. Should the 2014 Election Rule be retained without change?
2. Should the 2014 Election Rule be retained with modifications? If so, what should be modified?
3. Should the 2014 Election Rule be rescinded? If so, should the board revert to the Representation Election Regulations that were in effect prior to the 2014 Election Rule’s adoption, or should the board make changes to the prior Representation Election Regulations? If the board should make changes to the prior Representation Election Regulations, what should be changed?
(The rule has widely been dubbed the “Quickie Elections” rule.)
The Request for Information was approved by Board Chairman Philip A. Miscimarra and Board Members Marvin E. Kaplan and William J. Emanuel. Board Members Mark Gaston Pearce and Lauren McFerran dissented.
The official Request for Information as approved by the board, including the dissenting views, may be found here
Complete instructions for filing responses are available here on the homepage of the Agency’s website.
Responses to these questions will be accepted from Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017, to Monday, Feb. 12, 2018 (within 60 days after publication in the Federal Register).
When the new rule was released in 2014, the board stated:
The board believes the rule will enable the agency to more effectively administer the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by modernizing its rules in light of modern technology, making its procedures more transparent and uniform across regions, and eliminating unnecessary litigation and delay. With these amendments, the board will be better able to fulfill its duty to protect employees’ rights by fairly, efficiently and expeditiously resolving questions of representation.
Thus, the final rule:
- Provides for electronic filing and transmission of election petitions and other documents;
- Ensures that employees, employers and unions receive timely information they need to understand and participate in the representation case process;
- Eliminates or reduces unnecessary litigation, duplication and delay;
- Adopts best practices and uniform procedures across regions;
- Requires that additional contact information (personal telephone numbers and email addresses) be included in voter lists, to the extent that information is available to the employer, in order to enhance a fair and free exchange of ideas by permitting other parties to the election to communicate with voters about the election using modern technology; and
- Allows parties to consolidate all election-related appeals to the board into a single appeals process.