The Practical NLRB Advisor: Winter 2026

The Board’s long history of decisional flip-flopping appears to be finally catching up with the agency as its credibility with some stakeholders and reviewing courts has dropped in recent years. So much so that in some states (the usual suspects), there are efforts to replace the national structure with a state-specific version.

The agency also faces a host of consequential legal challenges to its structure, procedures, and remedial authority. While a quorum has finally been restored after a nearly year-long hiatus, the Board still lacks the three-vote majority, which, by past practice, has been required to overturn much of the ill-advised precedent issued in the last few years.

Debate over the necessity and scope of all forms of federal regulation is as old as the existence of administrative law itself. The regulation of labor/management relations is no exception. At present, however, that debate is wholly academic since there is no realistic or viable alternative on the horizon. While there’s no shortage of “reform” proposals, they are either too extreme to garner widespread support or too impractical to enable implementation.

Consequently, the NLRB and National Labor Relations Act, despite their flaws and problems, remain the only show in town. That reality should cause all stakeholders to wish the Board’s new general counsel and board members well, as they at least try to correct the missteps of the Board’s own making. 

We hope you will enjoy this issue of the Practical NLRB Advisor on the latest developments at the NLRB. We will issue the next edition in the coming months. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Ogletree Deakins’ Traditional Labor Relations Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Traditional Labor Relations blog.

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