NLRB 2008 Decisions Invalid
US Court of Appeals Voids 300 DecisionsOn May 1, 2009 the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. invalidated 300 decisions made by the NLRB in 2008. The D.C. court's justification for throwing out the cases was based on the fact that only two members of the five member board made the decisions.
However, a Chicago court believes the 300 NLRB decisions were valid. With two conflicting legal opinions a final ruling may now fall into the lap of the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, the NLRB has only one Republican seat to fill.
On April 24th President Obama named two NLRB appointments. Craig Becker, Yale Graduate and general counsel both the SEIU and the AFL-CIO and Mark Pearce, a labor law attorney graduating from Cornell University and State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law who in private practice specializes in union side and employment law.
The NLRB members are Presidential appointments. Three seats are filled with members representing the majority party controlling Congress and two seats filled represent the other party.
Former President Bush's failure to fill the NLRB vacancies during his tenure may now result in interesting ramifications for the future. The good news is an opinion about Bannering, in terms of whether it is a form of picketing or not, may have its long awaited ruling.