On December 12, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it is adopting amendments to its rules and regulations for the conduct of representation elections. These elections are known as “Quickie Elections” or “Ambush Elections,” and are designed to expedite union elections – effectively giving Employers less time to respond to an organizing campaign.

The NLRB touts that its proposed amendments would “modernize” its procedures. The new Rules, published in the Federal Register on Monday, December 15, 2014, will take effect on April 14, 2015 absent a successful legal challenge.

Instead of the current standard of holding elections within forty-two (42) days after the union files a petition, elections could be held as soon as twenty (20) days. Elections must be scheduled at the earliest practicable date.

Employers will also have to provide unions with greater information about the employees eligible to vote in the election. In addition to providing home addresses, employers will, under the new rules, also be required to provide the union the eligible employees’ telephone numbers and email addresses.

Among the specific and noteworthy changes called for by the amendments:

1. Requiring employers to file and submit a “Statement of Position” within seven (7) days of receipt of the Petition for Election. This “statement” must include a list of prospective voters, their job classifications, shifts and work locations. Issues not raised in the Statement of Position will be deemed waived.
2. Requiring employers to post an initial “Notice of Election” after the Petition for Election is filed.
3. Limiting issues that could be raised during a pre-election hearing. Issues relating to employee eligibility to participate in the union election (e.g., supervisory, confidential, casual) would be litigated, if at all, only after an election.
4. Vesting the hearing officer at the representation hearing with authority to decide whether to permit the filing of post-hearing briefs, whereas traditionally either party had the absolute right to file a post-hearing brief.
5. Eliminating pre-election review, and consolidating any pre and post-election issues in a single, post-election request for review.
6. Dispensing with the discretionary NLRB option to postpone elections to deal with pre-election requests for review.
7. Affording the NLRB discretion on whether to hear an appeal (i.e., not absolute right to appeal on election issues).
8. Requiring that the final voter list be produced in electronic form when possible and the deadline would be shortened to two work days (down from the current seven (7) after the direction of election).

This new rule, combined with the Board's decision in Specialty Healthcare, which results in significantly smaller bargaining units than the Board has approved in the past, will make it much more difficult for employers to win representation elections. An employer's best defense is to regularly assess its policies and practices in the areas of human resources and pay/benefits to ensure it does not create potential organizing issues.