Court Upholds NLRB's Right to Require Employer Posting

In National Association of Manufacturers v. NLRB, No. 11-1629 (D.D.C. Mar. 2, 2012), the federal District Court for the District of Columbia upheld the NLRB's authority to require employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act ("Act") to post a notice informing employees of their rights under the Act, but added that the NLRB could not automatically treat a failure to post as an unfair labor practice or as grounds for tolling the statute of limitations.

Instead, the court ruled that the NLRB must make individual determinations as to whether a failure to post constitutes "interference" with employee rights in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the Act, or otherwise warrants tolling the statute of limitations. Therefore, in the absence of a further court ruling on this issue, all employers who are covered by the Act should post the employee rights poster by April 30, 2012.

For more information about posting the notice, see our e-alerts dated January 4, 2012 and August 31, 2011. A model notice is available from the NLRB on its web site (nlrb.gov).

Additionally, employers may want to post their own notice at the same time, informing employees of rights that are not addressed in the NLRB's notice, such as the right to refrain from union activities. The NLRB's rule acknowledges that employers have the right to post such a notice, so long as it accurately identifies the employees' rights.