At Request of Federal Court, NLRB Postpones Effective Date of New Rule from January 31, 2012 to April 30, 2012

On December 23, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it is again postponing the effective date of its new employee rights notice-posting rule at the request of the D.C. federal court hearing challenges to the rule by business groups. This is the second postponement of the rule which will require all employers subject to the jurisdiction of the NLRB to post a notice of employee rights, including the right to unionize. The original date for the required posting was November 14, 2011. However, in October 2011, the NLRB moved the date to January 31, 2012.

The new date for the notice posting requirement is April 30, 2012. Everything else about the requirement stays the same. Although most private sector employers—regardless of whether they are unionized—will be required to post the notice, there is no need to post it before April 30, 2012.

The National Association of Manufacturers, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, the National Federation of Independent Business and the National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, along with several small businesses, have filed consolidated lawsuits against the NLRB in D.C. federal court to enjoin enforcement of the rule on the grounds that it exceeds the NLRB’s statutory authority. On December 19, 2011, that court requested that the NLRB postpone its new rule in order to allow the court time to consider the parties’ arguments. The U.S. and South Carolina Chambers of Commerce have filed a separate action in the South Carolina federal court.

In its press release announcing the postponement, the NLRB stated that “it has determined that postponing the effective date of the rule would facilitate the resolution of the legal challenges that have been filed with respect to the rule.”

The Department of Labor’s separate requirement under Executive Order 13496 for most federal contractors to post a notice of employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act, that went into effect on June 21, 2010, remains unchanged and unchallenged. Under  the NLRB’s new rule, a federal contractor who has complied with the Department of Labor’s notice posting requirement will be deemed in compliance with the NLRB’s new notice posting requirement.

Copies of the NLRB’s employee rights poster and posting requirements are available at http://www.nlrb.gov/poster.