The Practical NLRB Advisor: Winter 2021

Ogletree Deakins’ Traditional Labor Relations Practice Group is pleased to announce the publication of the Winter 2021 issue of the Practical NLRB Advisor. This issue offers insight into the anticipated significant changes in labor relations policy we can expect to see with the election of President Joe Biden, a longtime vocal supporter of organized labor, coupled with control of both chambers of Congress by the traditionally labor-oriented Democratic Party.

This issue details what employers can expect once President Biden installs a Democratic majority to the National Labor Relations Board—likely by the fall of 2021. The new Board is expected to use both its case adjudication function and its rulemaking authority to make a number of labor-friendly changes. These are expected to include, among many things, seeking to reassert or affirm its jurisdiction in certain areas, expanding who qualifies as an “employee,” upending the Trump Board’s joint-employer rule, significantly expanding an employer’s bargaining obligation, returning to the Board’s prior position regarding employer work rules and policies, and continuing to adopt and foster even more union-friendly election procedures.

These changes were heralded by the president’s unprecedented firing of the NLRB’s general counsel 10 months before the end of his U.S. Senate-confirmed term, and Acting General Counsel Peter Sung Ohr’s subsequent withdrawal of a host of Trump-era guidance memos. As these events show, the policy deck is once again increasingly stacked in favor of unions, and employers are in for a difficult road ahead. The need to be alert, informed, and proactive could not be clearer. This issue of the Practical NLRB Advisor offers a detailed examination of the dynamic and fast-changing labor relations landscape in the new presidential administration.