Labor Board Ditches Unilateral ‘Consent Orders’ to End Cases (1)

The National Labor Relations Board has ended the agency’s use of consent orders, which provided a way for an employer charged with violating federal labor law to resolve a case over the objection of the charging party and the NLRB general counsel.

Unlike settlements, which are agreements between parties and/or agency prosecutors, consent orders are only agreed to by those charged with committing unfair labor practices. But the NLRB’s rules and regulations fail to mention the term “consent order”—and they appear to prohibit them, the board said in a divided ruling Thursday.

Approving such orders over the opposition of charging ...