A federal judge blocked a recently enacted New York law that authorized its state labor board to step in for the National Labor Relations Board while the latter remains without a quorum.
Why it matters: The court order prevents the New York labor board from processing private-sector union elections and disputes until a full decision is reached in the case challenging the law, which could take several months.
Background: New York—along with California—recently passed a law empowering its state labor board to act in place of the NLRB when it fails to assert jurisdiction, allowing the state to adjudicate union elections and unfair labor practice charges with no federal involvement.
The court order: The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York found that the New York law is likely preempted by the NLRA and issued a temporary injunction blocking it until a full decision on the merits is reached.
The bottom line: The ruling is the first move toward halting state efforts to substitute their own labor boards for the NLRB. Given the NLRA’s broad preemption authority, the lawsuit is likely to succeed—along with the suits against the California law.
Yes, but: Any victory may be temporary, given concurrently ongoing lawsuits challenging the very existence of the NLRB. If those legal campaigns were to eliminate the federal labor board entirely, states would once again be free to step in—and without federal preemption as an inhibitor.
Help on the way? This week, Scott Mayer joined fellow NLRB nominees James Murphy and Crystal Carey (the latter nominated for General Counsel) in being voted out of the Senate HELP Committee, teeing up a full Senate nomination vote for all three.
