NLRB Plans to Cut Staffers, Save Money Without Mass Layoffs (1)

The National Labor Relations Board said it will lose nearly 100 employees in the next fiscal year through buyouts and voluntary early retirements, according to the agency’s budget plan.

The NLRB said in its fiscal year 2026 budget justification released Friday that the personnel reductions—which will bring the total staff to 1,152—will save the agency $17.5 million. Overall, the NLRB asked Congress for $285.2 million, a 4.7% reduction from current funding levels.

The agency’s statements about staff cuts through buyouts and early retirements signals it may have been able to satisfy the White House’s demands for personnel reductions without layoffs.

The NLRB has been dealing with staffing shortages and work backlogs after receiving just one budget increase since 2014.

“This is an agency that’s been starved for resources,” said Lauren McFerran, who spent a decade on the NLRB and led the board during the Biden administration. “There’s just no way it can do a minimally adequate job with fewer people and fewer resources.”

The NLRB’s budget justification includes some workload estimates that don’t seem to add up, said McFerran, now a senior fellow at The Century Foundation.

For example, the agency predicts that administrative law judge hearings held and decisions issued will dip slightly from FY2025 to FY2026, while board rulings double.

Still, avoiding mass layoffs would represent a win compared to some of the significant staff cuts at other agencies in the first four months of the second Trump administration.

The White House had pushed for job reductions despite NLRB officials’ warnings that they could endanger the agency’s ability to function. The Department of Government Efficiency in April assigned the agency a pair of operatives linked to the administration’s efforts to dismantle small agencies.

In its budget plan, the NLRB said its savings from staff attrition “aligns” to its workforce reduction plan that the White House requested.

“The FY 2026 request reflects the reforms necessary to enable the Agency to fulfill its roles and responsibilities in the most cost-effective manner possible,” according to the plan.

The agency said it would lose 61 employees responsible for case handling, nine members of the board’s staff, two in the administrative law judge division—who could be ALJs themselves—and 29 staffers in operational support.

The request also noted a $2.2 million increase for the inspector general’s office, which will add two more employees.