Newly Appointed Acting General Counsel Rescinds 10 NLRB Memos

President Biden’s newly appointed Acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, Peter Sung Ohr, issued a memo last week rescinding ten (10) Trump-era NLRB memos as either “inconsistent” with the National Labor Relations Act or “no longer needed.”

As you can imagine, all ten of the rescinded memos were considered “employer-friendly.” Notably, a memo related to employee handbooks was included in those rescinded. The rescinded memo outlined categories of policies that were generally lawful, policies that warranted individual scrutiny, and policies that were deemed generally lawful. The memo gave employers significant discretion with respect to handbook policies. According to Ohr, however, this memo was rescinded as it is no longer necessary given the number of NLRB cases interpreting the seminal case in this area, The Boeing Company, 365 NLRB NO. 154 (Dec. 14, 2017).

Not surprisingly, the Labor-friendly Ohr also withdrew guidance from a September 2020 memo that encouraged the NLRB to adopt a stricter standard for evaluating neutrality agreements. The rescission of this guidance creates an easier path to workplace unionization. Other rescinded memos include those that have the effect of lowering unions’ potential liability in unfair labor practice charges, plus others that increased the level of detail unions had to include in financial notices.

This is only the beginning as Ohr indicated he will be issuing other memos setting forth new policies in the near future. As we have hinted in the past, this is just the first step in the Biden Administration’s efforts to “undo” everything that the employer-friendly Trump NLRB did over the past four (4) years.

For questions about the rescinded NLRB memos or any other labor and employment law topic, please do not hesitate to contact the attorneys at Hoffman & Hlavac. To stay updated on key labor and employment law developments that effect your workplace, be sure to subscribe to our blog and follow us on social media.