“Quickie Election” has First Hearing

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May 15, 2014

We have written about the proposed NLRB rules that would allow for a “quickie election” process. The first hearing on these rules was held by a House committee even though this is an NLRB rule and not proposed legislation. The committee wanted to air some of the concerns that employers have expressed about this proposed rule.

One presenter noted that over 65,000 people wrote comments opposing the rule in 2011 when it was initially proposed, and the new draft from the NLRB does not address any of those concerns. Another presenter expressed grave concern about the difficulties that small business will have under this proposed rule because small businesses do not have a labor lawyer on staff to help them respond to the information requests (demands) that exist under this new rule under a very short timeline. Another presenter expressed concern about violation of privacy rights because a business will be required to give the home address, home phone number and e-mail address of employees that are subject to the election petition if that information is readily known by the business.

While there was grave concern about this proposed rule, there was little suggestion that there would be changes made to the rule. The National Labor Relations Board is issuing this rule in its administrative capacity and it will be difficult to stop that from happening.

Businesses of all sizes must be concerned about this rule and the potential for an “ambush election” by a local union seeking to represent all or a part of the workforce in the business. We will continue to monitor developments regarding this rule and keep everyone informed.

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