The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) new election rules took effect April 14 and companies are already reporting effects from the change.

In our prior alerts, we noted that the new election rules take their name—“quickie” or “ambush” rules— from the most controversial feature of the new rules: Elections will take place at an extremely expedited pace. Instead of elections occurring within 30 days of a union filing its petition with NLRB seeking to represent workers, under these new rules, elections will occur as early as two weeks. Legally, employers have a right to express their opinions during such a campaign, and employees have an interest in being informed, but commentators noted that these new rules so shorten the election period that they would not allow sufficient time for employers to speak or employees to be informed in any meaningful way.