The United States District Court for the District of South Carolina Charleston Division struck down the National Labor Relations' Board (NLRB) ruling on the posting regulation that would have affected thousands of companies nationwide. The court decision centered on a suit brought by the US Chamber of Commerce and the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce.
The NLRB issued this rule stipulating that all employers subject to the National Labor Relations Act, which is almost every private employer, must post a notice in the workplace about the right to organize a union. The rule was published in the Federal Register on August 26, 2011 and would take effect 75 days later — on November 14, 2011. After much opposition in Congress and through court challenges, the NLRB ultimately postponed the implementation date until April 30, 2012.
In the posting rule, the NLRB stated: “The notice should be posted in a conspicuous place, where other notifications of workplace rights and employer rules and policies are posted. Employers also should publish a link to the notice on an internal or external website if other personnel policies or workplace notices are posted there.”
Opponents contended that the NLRB ruling was meant to make it much easier for non-unionized companies or workplaces to unionize. They argued that this effort was a blatant political maneuver by an NLRB that has been acting as a conduit for the Obama Administration and its goal to force companies to unionize wherever possible.
The court specifically addressed the motion filed by the US Chamber of Commerce with regard to the authority granted the NLRB to issue such a rule. The court stated: “After utilizing the tools of statutory interpretation, the court finds that the Board lacks the authority to promulgate the notice-posting rule.”