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The National Labor Relations Board: What It Is and What It Does
Human Resources Management · Chapter 10: Working With Unions: Collective Bargaining and Labor RelationsSection 10.1 · lesson 71 of 91video coming soon
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In this lesson
Representation questions, prohibited conduct, regional processes, and remedies.
- Describe the Board, General Counsel, regional offices, and court enforcement.
- Explain representation petitions, unit determination, voting, and certification.
- Trace unfair labor practice charges through investigation, hearing, and review.
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Working With Unions: Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations
The National Labor Relations Board: What It Is and What It Does
The National Labor Relations Board administers labor law, for most covered private employment. Its two case types address representation, and alleged prohibited employer or union conduct. An election examines representation choice, while an unfair labor practice case concerns wrongdoing. These processes can involve related facts, with separate procedures and different outcomes. This lesson explains the Board, its General Counsel, regional offices, judges, and the courts. The legal rights themselves were introduced in chapter nine; here we examine their institutional application. Representation cases involve support, the appropriate unit, a ballot, objections, and certification of the outcome. Conduct cases begin with charges, followed by investigation and potentially complaint, hearing, review, and enforcement. Most matters are resolved regionally, rather than traveling through every stage in Washington and court. Our fictional distribution case shows why unit arguments require facts about both connections and differences. By the end, identify the process and decision maker before preparing an accurate, timely HR response.
STRUCTURE AND SEPARATE FUNCTIONS
Adjudication and Prosecution Have Different Decision Makers
The statute provides five Board member positions, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Their five-year terms are staggered, while vacancies and quorum rules affect the authorized decision-making structure. Do not assume every case is reviewed by five members, or every position is currently filled. The General Counsel is separately appointed and confirmed, for four years. That office holds investigation and complaint authority, separate from Board adjudication. Regional Directors and staff handle petitions, investigations, elections, and many resolutions under delegation. A charge is an allegation, and a complaint is not an adjudicated violation. A regional dismissal has an administrative appeal route, rather than an automatic demand for Board merits review. The General Counsel's prosecution decisions can differ from the Board's adjudicative direction and policy. Courts of appeals handle enforcement and final-order review, because Board orders are not self-enforcing judicial decrees. Ignoring a later court order can produce contempt proceedings, so lack of direct Board penalties is no immunity.
REPRESENTATION CASE PROCESS
A Showing of Interest Starts an Inquiry, Not a Representation Victory
Ordinary employee or union election petitions need support, from at least thirty percent of employees. The region checks the showing of interest administratively, ordinarily keeping that material confidential from the employer. This support starts the inquiry, not majority representation or a guaranteed election. Jurisdiction, employee eligibility, existing agreements, and recent election bars can affect the petition process. The parties may agree on the unit and election arrangements, or disputed issues require regional proceedings. An election uses secret ballots, with majority determined from valid votes cast. Employees who do not vote are not automatically counted as votes against the union. Timely objections and determinative ballot challenges can require investigation, hearings, and applicable review. A sustained interference objection can set the result aside, followed by an appropriate rerun. A valid union victory supports exclusive-representative certification, while other outcomes can certify results. Lawful voluntary recognition is another representation route, so verify the process instead of treating elections as universal.
COMMUNITY OF INTEREST: FACTORS 1–4
Compare Actual Terms, Preparation, Work, and Interchange
Unit determination identifies the workers grouped together, for voting and bargaining. Begin with wages, hours, and benefits, asking whether actual terms and schedules are comparable. Hourly warehouse employees and salaried planners may differ, but that comparison is not an automatic exclusion. Next compare skills, training, and qualifications, including licensing requirements and job preparation. Licensed maintenance work can create distinct interests, compared with general work with different preparation. Compare actual functions and conditions, including off-site driving versus picking on a warehouse floor. Functional integration examines operational connections, while interchange asks whether employees move between jobs. Pickers and loaders routinely covering each other provide interchange evidence, beyond merely sharing an employer. Record the frequency, scope, and actual assignments, rather than describing every workflow connection as worker interchange. The legal standard weighs relevant evidence, with current rules and statutory constraints shaping the analysis. A factual comparison helps counsel assess an appropriate unit, rather than calculating a score that automatically decides it.
COMMUNITY OF INTEREST: FACTORS 5–7
Supervision, Location, and Bargaining History Add Context
Common supervision concerns actual reporting lines, rather than similar titles shown on a chart. Groups sharing one shift manager can differ from groups reporting through separate directors. Geographic proximity concerns work locations and operational connections. Three nearby metropolitan sites may support grouping, while distant operations require further evidence about their relationships. Bargaining history examines prior representation, including a ten-year established unit. History provides context, rather than a guarantee that proposed changes will be rejected. More than one unit can be appropriate, even if management prefers an operational grouping. Gather evidence about terms, duties, qualifications, supervision, locations, contact, and actual interchange among workers. Special workforce or industry rules can add requirements, beyond the general community-of-interest comparisons on these slides. Do not assume common ownership resolves every boundary, or different pay structures automatically mandate separate units. The regional process decides legal appropriateness, using the applicable standard and record rather than management preference alone.
UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE CASE PROCESS
A Charge Starts an Investigation of Alleged Prohibited Conduct
An unfair labor practice case starts with a charge, alleging conduct prohibited by the Act. The ordinary six-month rule involves filing and service, with accrual and exceptions requiring legal assessment. Do not wait for internal discussions to finish, before seeking advice about a statutory deadline. Regional staff investigate documents and witness evidence, including information from both sides. A charge can be withdrawn, dismissed, settled, or advanced through a complaint under General Counsel authority. A meritorious unsettled complaint ordinarily reaches a hearing, before an administrative law judge. The judge issues recommended findings and remedies, which can be challenged through timely exceptions. Without exceptions, the recommended order can be adopted without contested Board review. A regional dismissal can be appealed administratively, to the General Counsel's Office of Appeals. Appropriate cases may seek temporary court relief while proceedings continue, but injunctions are not guaranteed. Compliance, enforcement, and court review require their own steps, so identify every applicable response and review deadline.
REMEDIES, DEFERRAL, AND CHANGING DOCTRINE
Make-Whole Relief Seeks to Correct Harm, With Defined Legal Limits
Characteristic remedies seek to correct harm, through reinstatement, back pay, rescission, bargaining duties, and notices. Specific relief depends on the violation and governing requirements, rather than a universal list. The Board's ordinary authority does not award punitive damages, and compensable harm has changing legal boundaries. Delay can weaken practical restoration, but it is not permission to ignore worker rights or court orders. Debate over deterrence is a policy question, distinct from an employer's present compliance responsibilities. Deferral can use the parties' negotiated grievance or arbitration machinery, for disputes meeting the governing conditions. Some cases are held pending arbitration; others concern deference to an existing award. A contractual arbitration clause does not automatically remove statutory jurisdiction, or make every award binding on the Board. The agency can retain jurisdiction, and applicable reporting or procedural duties must still be followed. Unit standards, policies, election rules, joint-employer doctrine, remedies, and deferral can change through decisions and rulemaking. Verify controlling Board and court rules, before relying on older guidance.
8 CASE-TYPE CLASSIFICATIONS
Representation Preference and Prohibited Conduct Ask Different Questions
Classify the described filing, rather than assuming facts support only one case type. A petition with cards from one-third of workers begins a representation inquiry, not a completed majority vote. Disputing whether four technicians belong in a proposed unit concerns representation and eligibility. Seeking a rerun after polling-area conduct concerns objections, while allegations about the conduct may support separate charges. Objections filed after the tally likewise address whether the representation election produced a valid outcome. Moving a worker to nights after a joint complaint presents a possible protected-activity retaliation allegation. Refusing requested bargaining wage data raises a conduct question, about required information and facts. A union threatening employees who decline cards raises possible unlawful coercion, rather than voting preferences. A new benefit before a vote can raise a conduct allegation, depending on motivation and context. These are case-type classifications, rather than findings that each allegation has merit or every defense fails. Keep related representation and conduct filings distinct, with their own deadlines, evidence, requested outcomes, and decisions.
FICTIONAL NORTHGATE LOGISTICS CASE
Ana Needs Evidence About Connections as Well as Differences
Ana's fictional logistics company contains a warehouse, attached transport yard, and maintenance shop. The petition combines warehouse, transport, and maintenance employees, while Ana sees three different groups. Warehouse employees work hourly on the floor, while drivers work off site under different supervision and pay. Four maintenance technicians have distinct licenses, recruitment, and engineering supervision. However, the common site and connected workflow can support broader grouping. Warehouse workers regularly cover loading, showing warehouse and loading interchange. That does not automatically establish that warehouse employees drive, or that drivers regularly perform warehouse assignments. Two technicians formerly worked in the warehouse, but past career movement is not necessarily current interchange. Ana can prioritize the maintenance dispute, while counsel evaluates transport evidence and law. Gather reporting lines, qualifications, pay arrangements, assignments, and both supporting and contrary facts accurately. The resulting unit shapes later bargaining and grievances, although lawful changes can occur.
REVERSE CASE: RERUN AFTER 11 MONTHS
A New Election Cannot Automatically Restore the Original Organizing Conditions
In the reverse case, a union narrowly loses and files objections to the election. After eleven months, the result is set aside and a rerun is directed through representation proceedings. Trace the petition, unit, original ballot, timely objections, subsequent proceedings, review, and actual rerun direction. During the interval, no bargaining occurred and several supporters left, but their departure reasons remain factual questions. A rerun restores an opportunity to vote, not automatically the earlier workforce and momentum. Separate proven unlawful conduct can support appropriate remedies, through unfair-practice proceedings. The departure of a supporter does not itself establish an unlawful discharge or guarantee reinstatement. Nor does elapsed time automatically create punitive damages, or a bargaining order without legal predicates. Temporary relief and other remedies depend on the actual interference, evidence, and applicable statutory standards. Eleven months is this case's supplied interval, not a standard processing time. Both parties must assess the practical effects of delay, while continuing to honor current rights and obligations.
4 PROPOSED-UNIT COMPARISONS
State the Strongest Grouping Argument and the Strongest Concern
Compare all hourly workers across three city warehouses, comparing functions, terms, and proximity. Against grouping, examine site autonomy, separate supervision, and interchange between locations. For drivers alone at one site, distinct duties and off-site conditions support a separate-unit argument. Against it, examine their operational integration and interchange with warehouse employees, rather than assuming interchange. A nationwide unit can rely on common policies and history, but geography and local control create factual concerns. This broad proposal may be most contested on sparse facts, without making nationwide units invalid. Clinic nurses have distinct professional preparation and functions, supporting separation from administrative staff in their building. Shared location and supervision point toward common interests, but professional-unit statutory rules also require review. State the strongest argument on both sides, rather than one convenient factor. Current standards and actual evidence determine legal appropriateness, with applicable workforce rules. Expected contestedness is a reasoned inference, rather than a substitute for regional decision.
HR PRACTICE AND 8 DEFINITIONS
Recognize the Process, Preserve Facts, and Track Its Actual Deadlines
Recognize a petition, charge, regional request, or adverse response to employees acting together about work. Identify whether the matter concerns representation status, prohibited conduct, or related separate filings. Preserve dates, documents, witnesses, reporting lines, duties, and actual assignments, then brief qualified counsel accurately. Prevent retaliation and avoid hurried informal promises or threats, which can create additional exposure. Define the Board and General Counsel by their distinct adjudicative and prosecutorial functions. Define representation case, showing of interest, and unit determination, without confusing cards with an election result. Explain certification, a conduct charge, and make-whole relief, identifying what each actually establishes. Jurisdiction comes first, because the Act has employee exclusions and limits affecting covered employers. The Postal Service is an important exception, to ordinary public-employee exclusion. Rail and airline work, public agencies, contractors, supervisors, agriculture, and household employment need their actual coverage routes. Next we examine locals, national unions, and federations, to understand bargaining counterparts.
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