NLRB Alert - Finally Some Good News For Employers!

By Kamer Zucker Abbott

May 16, 2017

In late April 2017, President Trump appointed Philip A. Miscimarra as the new Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB").  Chairman Miscimarra has served as a Board Member of the NLRB since 2013 and is the only current Republican on the Board.

Before joining the Board, Chairman Miscimarra was a Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School in the Wharton Center for Human Resources. He also worked as a management-side labor and employment lawyer for many years.

Also presently serving on the NLRB are Board Members Mark Gaston Pearce (previously NLRB Chairman), whose term expires on August 27, 2018, and Lauren McFerran, whose term expires on December 16, 2019.  President Trump is currently working to nominate two individuals to fill the remaining Board vacancies, and the most current news is that he has chosen two Republican attorneys. These appointments will be especially critical because Chairman Miscimarra's term expires on December 16, 2017.

It is no secret that as a Board Member, Miscimarra often disagreed with his colleagues in several key NLRB rulings, including the critical case of Browning Ferris, which set forth a new joint employer standard, as well as American Baptist Homes, which addressed hiring replacement workers, and Whole Foods, which addressed an employer's rule against recordings in the workplace.  As such, his elevation to Chairman, in addition to two new Republican Board Members, should give employers hope that the Board's rulings will soon enter into the realm of reasonable. When asked about Chairman's Miscimarra's elevation, KZA's Gregg Kamer exclaimed:  "He will be outstanding based on his dissents!"