In February 2009, President Obama appointed long-time Board member Wilma Liebman as Chairperson of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). As a member of the Bush-era Board under former Chairperson Robert Battista, Ms. Liebman dissented from most of the critical pro-employer decisions issued under the Battista Board. Analysis of Liebman's dissenting opinions provides a legal roadmap – charting the likely course the Liebman Board will take if presented with the opportunity to reconsider the issues addressed in these critical decisions.

Ford and Harrison's NLRB UPDATE is a 10-part series, analyzing critical decisions issued by the Bush-appointed Battista Board that likely will be overturned in the next few years if reconsidered by the Obama-appointed Liebman Board.

NLRB UPDATE PART VII: LIEBMAN BOARD MAY "RE-CLARIFY" THE REINSTATEMENT RIGHTS OF ECONOMIC STRIKERS

Jones Plastic & Engineering Co., 351 NLRB No. 11 (September 27, 2007).

Battista Board Clarifies the Reinstatement Rights of Economic Strikers

In Jones Plastic & Engineering Co., 351 NLRB 61 (2007), the Battista Board clarified the reinstatement rights of economic strikers by holding that an employer can lawfully decline to reinstate economic strikers even where the employer had classified the replacement workers as "at will" employees. According to the Board majority, a replacement worker's "at will status" is not necessarily inconsistent with "permanent replacement status." Accordingly, the employer is under no obligation to displace the permanent replacement even if the economic striker makes an unconditional offer to return to work.