NLRB suspends elections, closes some offices in response to COVID-19

The National Labor Relations Board has temporarily suspended union representation elections until April 3, 2020. In an announcement on March 19, 2020, the Board said the temporary suspension was necessary to protect the health of its own employees and members of the public involved in elections. Also, the Board said it can’t effectively conduct elections at this time because some Regional Offices are closed, while others have “limited operations or significant telework.” The Board is keeping a running list of the status of each Regional Office on its website. In its most recent announcement regarding Regional Office closures, the Board said, “Additional guidance regarding future hearings and elections will be issued at a later date,” but that “personnel will continue to handle unfair labor practice investigations and processing representation petitions.” The Board has continued to issue decisions in the last couple of weeks, although at a slower pace than usual. In addition, the Board announced that it’s postponing the effective date of revisions to its rules on the union representation election process from April 16 (as we previously reported) to May 31, 2020. Vigilant is monitoring Board activity and will update members with relevant new information.