NLRB Actively Considering Election Rulemaking

Today, the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies held a hearing to consider the NLRB's budget request for FY 2012. While many of the questions from the committee concerned issues with a direct budget impact, many others were policy related. 

Perhaps the most interesting revelation came when Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) asked Chairman Liebman about recent comments by Member Pearce regarding "quick snap" elections. Rep. Kingston's comments were likely referring to comments Member Pearce made at a conference at Suffolk University Law School in October. As reported by the Daily Labor Report (BNA), Member Pearce said that the Board must seek to hold an election as soon as possible after a petition is filed and that he found the system used in some parts of Canada, where elections are held in as little as 5 to 10 days, "intriguing."

In response, Chairman Liebman noted that while the current median time for elections is 38 days, the Board is giving "active consideration" to conducting rulemaking in this area and that the Board was looking at the various components that are part of the current secret ballot election process. In particular, the Board is considering whether these components are still working and necessary or whether they detract from the effectiveness of conducting elections.

The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), also asked Chairman Liebman about the request for information the Board issued last year with respect to technology available to conduct remote and electronic voting. In response, Chairman Liebman noted that the Board has not made any decision to pursue this matter. She also stated that should a decision be made to change the process to utilize electronic technology, the Board would do so through rulemaking.

Other matters discussed at the hearing included the Board's proposed regulation that would require employers to post a notice of rights under the NLRA, the Board's Notice and Invitation to file briefs in Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, 356 NLRB No. 56 (Dec. 22, 2010),  the General Counsel's complaint from last year in the "Facebook" case, and the Board's actions with respect to recently enacted state constitutional amendments intended to protect secret ballot elections.

With respect to the Board's FY 2012 budget, Acting General Counsel Solomon testified that the Board has requested a 2 percent increase in its budget and that 80 percent of the Board's budget is attributable to personnel costs. When asked what the Board would have to do if its budget were cut by 5 percent, the GC testified that in addition to cutting training and investment in technology, the Board would need to reduce the size of its workforce by 100 to 150 FTEs (full time equivalent employees).