Ex-Jones Day Lawyer Withdraws Consideration for Top Labor Post

Roger King, who helped successfully litigate the landmark NLRB v. Noel Canning case, has withdrawn his name from consideration for National Labor Relations Board general counsel, sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg BNA.

King, a former Jones Day lawyer who currently works for McGuiness & Yager and the HR Policy Association, had been considered a leading candidate for the job. President Donald Trump is expected to fill current General Counsel Richard Griffin’s (D) position with a Republican when Griffin’s term ends in November.

Trump has already nominated two GOP lawyers — William Emanuel and Marvin Kaplan — to fill openings on the five-member board. If confirmed by the Senate, they would give the NLRB its first Republican majority in nearly a decade.

The reshaped board is likely to use that majority to rethink a number of Obama era rulings. That includes decisions expanding joint employer liability for affiliated businesses, recognizing “micro-units” of workers for collective bargaining purposes, and easing worker organizing on college campuses.

King and a White House spokesman separately declined Bloomberg BNA’s request for comment.

In Noel Canning, the U.S. Supreme Court found that President Barack Obama violated the Constitution by appointing two NLRB members while the Senate was in recess.