On June 11, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the National Labor Relations Board’s (the “NLRB’s” or the “Board’s”) regulations enacted last year, radically altering the traditional rules governing union elections.
As we have discussed previously, the new regulations, which took effect on April 14, 2015, and are referred to collectively as the “quickie election rule,” dramatically shorten the potential election timeline – and, consequently, shorten the period of time an employer has to respond to and defend against an election petition. Specifically, the new rule permits electronic filing of election petitions; requires employers to file a statement of position outlining all pre-election hearing issues within seven days after the petition is filed or else risk waiving such issues; mandates that pre-election hearings commence within eight days of the filing of an election petition; requires employers to provide the union with voter information (including modern forms of contact information like personal email addresses) within two days of any direction of election; defers resolution of many voter eligibility issues until postelection; and denies parties the opportunity to file a post-hearing brief as an automatic right.