Quick Hits

• The NLRB’s acting general counsel issued a new memo, relaxing requirements for officials to approve settlements related to unfair labor practice allegations.
• The memo gives NLRB’s regional directors more discretion in crafting settlement agreements to reduce the pending backlog of cases.
• The new policy takes effect immediately.

On May 16, 2025, William B. Cowen, acting general counsel of the NLRB, released a memo to clarify the discretion NLRB regional directors can use to select remedies in settlement agreements related to allegations of unfair labor practices.

In February 2025, Cowen rescinded memoranda from the former NLRB general counsel that called for regional directors to attach certain types of make-whole remedies to certain types of settlements and complaints. “We should be mindful of not allowing our remedial enthusiasm to distract us from achieving a prompt and fair resolution of disputed matters,” he wrote.

While regional directors will maintain the discretion to tailor remedies to the circumstances of each case, the nonmonetary remedies (such as mandates to reinstate workers, post notices, or restart bargaining with a union) should not automatically be sought, and, instead, should be limited to “cases involving widespread, egregious, or severe misconduct,” Cowen wrote in Memo GC 25-06. “In drafting Settlements, the scope of the remedial relief sought should typically be consistent with the remedy that would be ordered by the Board in a case involving similar facts and violations.”

The memo also includes the following instructions:

• Regional directors may approve unilateral settlement agreements without prior authorization.
• Settlements should strive to make sure employees are made whole for losses they incurred as a result of unlawful actions, but regional directors may approve settlements that provide for “less than 100 percent of the total amount that could be recovered if the region fully prevailed on all allegations in the case.” When doing so, regional directors should consider the nature of the violations alleged, the weight of the evidence, the inherent risks of litigation, and the “extent to which a prompt resolution of a contentious dispute will promote labor peace.”
• Nonadmissions language may be considered in certain settlement agreements, but should not be included in settlement agreements involving employers with a history of repeated violations.
• Default language, which permits prosecutors to quickly bring a case to the Board if the charged party does not comply with the settlement terms, is not required in every settlement agreement, but it can be used in initial proposed settlement agreements “where appropriate.”

In general, these items aim to remove barriers that may have precluded some settlements in the past.

The latest memo also addresses a 2022 NLRB decision that expanded the remedies recoverable by a successful charging party in unfair labor practice cases. It concluded that the NLRB’s make-whole remedy includes compensating employees for all direct or foreseeable harms or losses suffered as a consequence of labor violations.

To narrow this application, the memo instructs regional directors to “focus on addressing foreseeable harms that are clearly caused by the unfair labor practice.”

Next Steps

Going forward, the acting general counsel’s new memo indicates the NLRB intends to take a more flexible approach to the types of remedies it will seek in settlements between employers and their employees or unions. If more cases are settled, that could help clear the backlog of NLRB cases in the regional offices.

Notably, the NLRB’s regional offices can approve settlements without a Board quorum.