On March 2, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a decision in the case of National Association of Manufacturers v. NLRB, challenging the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB's) controversial new posting rule regarding employees' union rights. In a disappointing decision for employers, the court upheld the NLRB's ability to require the workplace posting. The court did strike down two enforcement provisions that provided for an automatic finding of an unfair labor practice and automatic tolling of the limitations period in the face of a violation, but left the door open for case-by-case imposition of these remedies by the NLRB.

Factual Background

On August 30, 2011, the NLRB promulgated its Final Rule, "Notification of Employee Rights under the National Labor Relations Act." The new rule, found at 29 C.F.R. § 104.202, requires all employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to post a notice informing employees of their rights to, among other things, form a union, join a union, assist a union, or refrain from doing any of these things. After several delays, the effective date of the new rule is currently April 30, 2012. More information on the details of the posting requirement can be found in this recent WSGR Alert.