Lamons Gasket Company, et al.

Case Updates

The NLRB reversed its decision in Dana Corporation, which had clarified that employees or rival unions may immediately challenge a union's representative status. Under the NLRB's new rule in Lamons Gasket, employees are barred from challenging a union's representative status for a “reasonable period,” defined as between six months and a year. The NLRB's controversial ruling came over the forceful dissent of board member Brian Hayes, who argued that the majority's decision reflected “a purely ideological choice, lacking any real empirical support and uninformed by agency expertise.”

NCLC urged the NLRB to uphold the 2007 decision in Dana Corporation. Dana held that when an employer agrees to voluntarily recognize a union based on signed authorization cards, the employer must post a notice advising employees that they have a right, within 45 days of the notice, to petition for union decertification or support of a rival union. If the notice is not posted, the union and employer may not later claim that their contract bars a petition by a rival union or for decertification. In its brief, NCLC argued that the notice requirement provides a valuable check to the voluntary recognition system. The Dana decision, NCLC noted, advances the mission of the National Labor Relations Act by promoting employee free choice.