Employers Laud Court’s Decision On NLRB Elections Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. // MAY 14, 2012 // Citing Woody Allen and the lack of a quorum of National Labor Relations Board Members, the US District Court for the District of Columbia today overturned the Board’s illegal and ill-advised “ambush elections” rule, which was challenged by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and its litigation partners at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Court’s opinion included the following:

According to Woody Allen, eighty percent of life is just showing up. When it comes to satisfying a quorum requirement, though, showing up is even more important than that. Indeed, it is the only thing that matters – even when the quorum is constituted electronically. In this case, because no quorum ever existed for the pivotal vote in question, the Court must hold that the challenged rule is invalid.

CDW chairman Geoffrey Burr responded, “Employers are greatly gratified that the Court has overturned a rule that would have been bad for employees and employers and especially hard on small business owners who would have been left with mere days to navigate an often-arcane NLRB process.

Burr continued, “While we hope this will be the final word on this particular attack on workplace democracy, we know that hope is not a strategy and are keeping our eyes out and litigation ready on a number of fronts.”