D.C. Circuit Strikes Down NLRB Notice Rule As Inconsistent With Free Speech Provision

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held May 7 that the National Labor Relations Board’s August 2011 regulation requiring businesses to post notices of worker rights violates the free speech rights of employers under federal labor law and is therefore invalid (National Ass’n of Mfrs. v. NLRB, D.C. Cir., 12-5068, 5/7/13).

Writing for the court, Judge A. Raymond Randolph said Section 8(c) of the National Labor Relations Act “precludes the Board from finding noncoercive employer speech to be an unfair labor practice or evidence of an unfair labor practice.” Requiring employers ...