National Labor Relations Board

From Free net encyclopedia

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the United States Government charged with conducting elections for union representation and with investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. It is governed by a five-person board, whose members are appointed by the President and a presidentially-appointed General Counsel. The General Counsel acts as a prosecutor and the Board acts as an appellate judicial body from decisions of administrative law judges. The NLRB was established in 1935 through passage of the National Labor Relations Act (better known as the Wagner Act), which was amended by the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947.

The Board's jurisdiction is limited to private sector employers and the United States Postal Service; other than Postal Service employees, it has no authority over labor relations disputes involving governmental employees, railroad and airline employees covered by the Adamson Railway Labor Act, or agricultural employees. In those parts of the private sector it does cover, on the other hand, its jurisdictional standards are low enough to reach almost all employers whose business has any appreciable impact on interstate commerce.

The Taft-Hartley Act also created a formal administrative distinction between the Board and the General Counsel of the NLRB. In broad terms, the General Counsel is responsible for investigating and prosecuting unfair labor practice claims; the Board, on the other hand, is the adjudicative body that decides the unfair labor practice cases brought to it. While the General Counsel has limited independence to argue for a change in the law in presenting cases to the Board, once the Board has decided the issue it is the General Counsel's responsibility to defend the Board's decision, even if it is contrary to the position he advocated when presenting the case to the Board. The Board is also responsible for the administration of the Act's provisions governing the holding of elections and resolution of jurisdictional disputes.

The Board has more than thirty regional offices, which conduct elections, investigate unfair labor practice charges and make the initial determination whether to dismiss, and settle or issue complaints on those charges. The Board has jurisdiction to hold elections and prosecute violations of the Act in Puerto Rico and American Samoa.

A predecessor organization, the National Labor Board, was established by the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933, an act that was subsequently struck down by the Supreme Court.

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