Source: http://apps.americanbar.org/ababoards/blog/blogpost.cfm?threadid=27841&catid=14929
Timestamp: 2018-04-20 00:44:00
Document Index: 43198276

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 10', '§ 6', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8', '§ 8']

Brief Summary: In August 2011, the NLRB promulgated a rule requiring that employers subject to its jurisdiction post a prominent notification for employees of their rights under the NLRA. The rule provided that failure to post the required notice would give rise to charges of unfair labor practices; would toll the § 10(b) limitations period for employee actions; and would constitute evidence of improper anti-union motive. Trade associations filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia claiming that the rule violated the NLRA and the First Amendment. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the district court found statutory authority for the rule under § 6 of the Act but held that, under § 8(a)(1) and § 8(c), the Board had no authority to make a blanket advance determination that failure to post would invariably be an unfair labor practice. The court also invalidated a section of the rule tolling the limitations period if the employer failed to post the notice. The district court upheld the provision allowing an employer's failure to post to be considered evidence of improper motive because it did not make a blanket finding that would govern individual cases. On appeal, the D.C. Circuit struck the rule in its entirety.
As a threshold matter, the court found that the recess appointment of one of the board members at the time of publication of the rule in the Federal Register did not invalidate the regulation under Noel Canning v. NLRB, 705 F.3d 490 (D.C. Cir. 2013). The court determined that the date of filing with the Office of the Federal Register - at which point the Board had a valid quorum - not the date of eventual publication, is the operative date for determining whether the Board had a valid quorum.
On the merits, the court found that the provisions of the rule charging employers with unfair labor practices for failure to post the required notice or making such failure evidence of anti-union animus violated § 8(c) of the NLRA, which states that the expression or dissemination of views "shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair labor practice" in the absence of threats or coercion. The court rejected the Board's argument that the posts represented the Board's speech, rather than the speech of employers. Citing Supreme Court precedent on compelled speech, the court next found that compelled dissemination of a particular message violates the First Amendment, and by implication § 8(c), as much as a regulation that forbids speech.
Panel (if known): Henderson, Brown, Randolph
Posted By: Ripple Weistling @ 05/07/2013 03:19 PM DC Circuit