Seyfarth Synopsis: On Friday, December 1, 2017, newly appointed NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb issued a memo containing a broad overview of his initial agenda as General Counsel. It previews many anticipated treats for employers, which our blog will be exploring over the next three weeks.
In keeping with the tradition of prior General Counsels (see here (GC 16-01), here (GC 14-01), and here (GC 11-11) for prior memos from President Obama’s appointees), Mr. Robb provided the NLRB’s Regional Offices with a list of issues that must be submitted to his Division of Advice for consideration before proceeding to issue a complaint in an unfair labor practice case. Although the Regional Offices are instructed to issue complaints in accordance with extant law (i.e., the law created by the NLRB during the Obama Administration), Mr. Robb suggests that he “might want to provide the Board with an alternative analysis.” As usual when the General Counsel’s office flips from Democrat to Republican or vice versa, the memo basically provides a list of important case law developments from the prior administration that are likely to be overturned. Here, Mr. Robb identifies nearly 30 such cases covering 15 important subjects for employers.
In addition, Mr. Robb immediately rescinds seven prior memos issued by President Obama’s appointees and revokes five initiatives set forth in other memos issued by the General Counsel’s Division of Advice during the Obama Administration.
As the numbers above suggest, a full explanation of Mr. Robb’s five-page memo is far more than a single blog can handle. Some of our readers may be familiar with the Advent Calendar tradition developed long ago by German Lutherans and now fairly common in many Christian traditions, whereby a special calendar is used to count the days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas Day (often involving the receipt of a special treat each day). Similarly, Seyfarth Shaw labor lawyers will be posting an item on this blog each weekday from tomorrow until the Friday before Christmas, exploring a different aspect of the memo each day. Like a young child building up excitement for the big day when the big gifts appear under the tree, our readers may take in each morsel with a growing anticipation of the day when the new Republican General Counsel and NLRB will deliver new and more favorable case law to employers around the country.
P.S. If you are like one of those children who just can’t wait and needs a full and complete analysis of the memo more quickly, don’t hesitate to drop your friendly neighborhood Seyfarth labor lawyer a note. Any of us would be glad to oblige.
