NLRB Issues Notice of Public Meeting on Controversial Proposed Changes to Representation Case Procedures

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) published a Notice in the Federal Register today inviting interested persons to attend a public meeting of the Board on April 10–11, 2014. During the meeting, persons who have previously requested to speak may share their views on the Board’s proposed amendments to the rules governing representation case procedures, published at 79 FR 7318, and make other proposals for improving representation case procedures. For a copy of the Notice, click here. To read our prior alert on the proposed amendments, click here.

The Board meeting will begin at 9:30am each day and will be held in the Margaret A. Browning Hearing Room in the Board’s headquarters in Washington, DC. Depending on the level of interest, additional days of meeting may be scheduled for April 8 and/or 9. Those who wish to speak at the meeting must submit a “Request to Speak” in a form set forth in the Notice, no later than March 10, 2014. In addition, those wishing to only attend the meeting and not speak must submit a “Request to Attend” in a form set forth in the Notice, no later than March 31, 2014.

According to the Notice, the Board intends to give members of the public a “fair opportunity” to address the issues listed in the Notice, “subject to the Board’s discretion to both ask questions of speakers and to avoid repetitious or cumulative subject matter.” The Board believes it is likely that not every requester will have the opportunity to speak on every issue requested. The Board will notify persons prior to the meeting whether they will be speaking, the issues they will be called upon to address, the date(s) and time(s) of the sessions at which they will speak, and the amount of their initial allotment of speaking time. A list of the issues the Board wants speakers to address is set forth in the Notice, which is linked above.

The Arent Fox Labor & Employment group will continue to monitor this rulemaking. For questions, please contact the authors or any other member of the group.