On February 3, 2025, President Trump appointed William B. Cowen as Acting General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Cowen has previously served in a variety of roles throughout the agency, including most recently as Regional Director for the Los Angeles Regional Office and previously as the NLRB’s Solicitor and an NLRB member. Cowen fills the role left vacant by President Trump’s firings of both Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB General Counsel appointed by President Biden, and Jessica Rutter, who served as Abruzzo’s Deputy General Counsel and took over as Acting General Counsel when Abruzzo was fired.Continue Reading Acting NLRB General Counsel Pulls Back Memoranda

Late on Monday, January 27, President Trump said “you’re fired” to two key National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) officials. The dismissal of NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo was widely expected and follows precedent set by President Biden when he fired Peter Robb, the NLRB General Counsel installed during the first Trump administration, on his first day in office. President Biden’s termination of Robb was upheld by various federal circuit courts. See Rieth-Riley Constr. Co. v. NLRB, 114 F.4th 519 (6th Cir. 2024) (holding the president can remove the NLRB General Counsel at will).Continue Reading Trump Tests Limits of Authority to Shape National Labor Relations Board

On December 31, 2024, Service Employees International Union, Local 560 (SEIU), the union seeking to represent the men’s basketball team at Dartmouth College, withdrew its petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), effectively ending its effort to become the first labor organization to unionize a collegiate athletic program.Continue Reading You Can’t Miss a Shot If You Don’t Show Up to the Game: Union Pulls Petition to Unionize Dartmouth Basketball Team

On December 10, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or “the Board”) took advantage of its Democratic majority in the waning days of the Biden administration to issue its decision in Endurance Environmental Solutions, LLC, and overturn a Trump-era standard that had strengthened management rights clauses in collective bargaining agreements.Continue Reading NLRB Weakens Ability of Employers to Rely on Management Rights Clauses in Collective Bargaining Agreements . . . For Now