The National Labor Relations Board will rehear 96 labor cases whose decisions were invalidated as the result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month.
Of the 96 cases, 90 were pending in federal appellate courts where they challenged the authority of the board to make decisions when three of its five seats were vacant. The remaining six were in the Supreme Court which ruled June 17 that the National Labor Relations Act requires a quorum of three members at all times.
The board said on July 1 that it will seek to have each of the pending challenges remanded for reconsideration. Each case will be considered by a three-member panel which will include Chair Wilma Liebman and member Peter Schaumber, the original decision-makers. The two other board members not on the panel will have the opportunity to participate in a case if they choose.
The board operated with two members for 27 months and decided nearly 600 cases on which Liebman and Schaumber could agree. They held other cases for when the board received additional members.
“It is unclear at this time how many of the two-member Board rulings not already challenged in the federal appellate courts can or will be contested and how many may now be moot,” the board said in a statement.
The board is now at full strength for the first time since December 2007. President Obama made two recess appointments last March. The Senate confirmed recess appointee Mark Pearce and nominee Brian Hayes on June 22. Craig Becker, the second recess appointee, has not been confirmed yet by the Senate.
However, the board soon will face a new vacancy when member Schaumber’s term expires Aug. 27.
Comments