Weinberg Roger & Rosenfeld attorney to testify before House Education and Workforce Committee on March 5 regarding NLRB R-cases
Caren Sencer of Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld will testify in front of Congress: live streaming on March 5 at 7:00 a.m. PST: http://thomas.loc.gov/video/house-committee/hsed00
The National Labor Relations Board recently reissued proposed amendments to its representation case, or “R-Case,” rules that were first proposed in 2011. NLRB Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce (D) and Members Kent Y. Hirozawa (D) and Nancy Schiffer (D) voted to move forward with the proposal, while Members Philip A. Miscimarra (R) and Harry I. Johnson (R) dissented.
The proposed amendments would “modernize the representation case process and fulfill the promise of the National Labor Relations Act,” Member Pearce said.
The NLRB said the rule changes would:
* allow for electronic filing and transmission of election petitions and other documents;
* ensure employers, unions, and employees receive and exchange on a timely basis information needed for their understanding and participation in representation cases;
* streamline pre-election and postelection procedures to facilitate agreements in representation cases and eliminate unnecessary litigation;
* add employee telephone numbers and e-mail addresses to voter lists used in the NLRB elections in order to facilitate communications with voters; and
* consolidate all election-related appeals to the board into a single postelection appeals process.
The NLRB invited comments, which are due April 7. The NLRB plans to hold a public hearing on its proposals during the week of April 7.
Employer interests label these changes, “ambush elections.” By contrast, those who support the change claim it will reduce frivolous litigation, reduce delays in scheduling union elections, streamline the appeals process, and strengthen the NLRB's hearing procedures.
The NLRB says that by these proposed changes it aims to “remove unnecessary barriers to the fair and expeditious resolution of questions concerning representation” under the NLRA.
The House Education and Workforce Committee is holding an oversight hearing on the Board’s proposal on Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 7:00 a.m. PST (10:00 a.m. EST), titled, “Culture of Union Favoritism: The Return of the NLRB’s Ambush Election Rule.”
The Republican witnesses are a small business owner, a management lawyer from Philadelphia, and William Messenger from the Right to Work Committee.
The Democrats' one witness will be Caren Sencer from Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld in California.
For more information, contact your labor law counsel.