In an era when deregulation seems the order of the day, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairman John Ring (a Trump appointee) seems to be swimming against the administration’s tide, arguing that more regulations — at least from the NLRB — are called for.
John Ring, NLRB Chair
The NLRB has already announced it is working on a joint employer definition rule, which it tried to do unsuccessfully in a case it heard (which was later thrown out due to a conflict of interest). Now, Chairman Ring has his regulatory eyes glued on other controversial legal decisions from the Obama era, including the use of employer property for union organizing and other activities.
Ring made his pronouncement about rulemaking while speaking this week at the American Bar Association’s 12th Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference.
“I have been a big proponent of rulemaking for many years,” Ring told conference attendees. “I think [it] allows us to address areas of the law in a more holistic way.”
“Why don’t we just be honest and do rulemaking the way we’re supposed to do rulemaking?” Ring asked. “One area that comes to mind [is] access to employer property. It’s an area where there are a lot of different components to the rules.”
Lauren McFarren, the board’s lone Democrat, who was at the conference, said she thought the use of rulemaking was getting out of hand under Republican leadership. Specifically, she questioned the use of rulemaking in defining a joint employer relationship because she found it “difficult for me to see [that] as an area where we can make broad proclamations.”