As predicted, the National Labor Relations Board has published a final rule amending its union election process.  The “quickie election” rule, which the Board rushed to finalize before the end of the year, will significantly change the process for contesting petitions for union elections and limit an employer’s opportunities to challenge the process before an election is held.  It also will limit an employer’s opportunity to communicate with its employees over issues of union representation before a vote is taken.  The rule is scheduled to take effect on April 30, 2012. 

For details of the rule, see our article, Quickie Election Rule Finalized Before Year End.

In addition, as we reported on December 20, Judge Amy Berman Jackson during oral argument in the challenge to the NLRB Notice Posting Rule pending in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the case is a complicated one, and she asked the Board to postpone the effective date of the Rule beyond January 31, 2012, because she needs more time to deal with the issues.  The Board in response to the Judge’s request announced today that “it has determined that postponing the effective date of the rule would facilitate the resolution of the legal challenges that have been filed with respect to the rule. The new implementation date is April 30, 2012."