No End To NLRB’s Quickie, Ambush Elections In Sight

The National Labor Relations Board under President Trump has been somewhat of a disappointment to many employers who were hoping for relief from the pro-union Obama-era NLRB.

For those employers who hoped the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) under President Trump would bring a much-needed sea change from the eight years of pro-union rules and rulings under Barack Obama, while there have been some positive changes, the last two years have been somewhat of a disappointment as well.

And, according to a report by Robin Shea, an employment attorney with Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLC, hopeful employers may continue to be disappointed into 2019 on at least one major Obama-era NLRB rule—the so-called ‘quickie’ (or ‘ambush’) election rules.

In looking at the 2018 regulatory agenda, it appears that quickie elections are here to stay for another year, according to Shea.

No end to “quickies” anytime soon. The regulatory agenda says there are no plans in the next 12 months to issue regulations to amend or replace the “quickie election rule” issued by the Obama Administration and currently in effect. The current rule shortened the time for campaigns and streamlined election procedures, both of which are believed to disadvantage employers in union campaigns. [Emphasis added.]

The ‘quickie’ (or ‘ambush’) election rules were implemented in 2015 in order to give unions shorter election windows from petition filing to the NLRB election.

Prior to their implementation, the median time from petition filing to election was 38 days.

However, following the ‘quickie’ (or ‘ambush’) election rules’ implementation, the median time has been reduced to 23 days.

Although, as union win rates have increased since the rules were implemented, the union successes have not been as dramatic as they were originally forecast to be.

According to the the NLRB’s fiscal year 2018 election data, union win rates for representation [RC] elections was 69%.