Earlier this summer, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proposed new rules regarding workplace unionization elections. Specifically, the new rules would:
- provide for electronic filing of election petitions and other documents;
- ensure that employees, employers and unions receive and exchange timely information all parties need to understand and participate in the representation case process;
- standardize timeframes for parties to resolve or litigate issues before and after union elections;
- require parties to identity issues and describe evidence soon after an election petition is filed to facilitate resolution and eliminate unnecessary litigation;
- defer litigation of most voter eligibility issues until after the election;
- require employers to provide a final voter list in electronic form soon after the scheduling of an election, including voters’ telephone numbers and e-mail addresses when available;
- consolidate all election-related appeals to the NLRB into a single post-election appeals process and thereby eliminate delay in holding elections currently attributable to the possibility of pre-election appeals; and
- make NLRB review of postelection decisions discretionary rather than mandatory.
The NLRB’s hope is that these new rules, if adopted, will streamline and modernize the filing of petitions and the entire election process.