An April 7, 2010 Investor's Business Daily story included a quote from Venable Labor and Employment partner Maurice Baskin on the possible implications of President Obama's recent National Labor Relations Board appointments.
According to the story, the two recess appointments made to the Board are causing employers to brace for new rules on workplace organizing efforts, including how and when the elections are held, which employees can be organized, what data must be turned over to unions during elections and what access they would have to workplaces. Business could also face new restrictions on what they can tell employees during elections and new penalties could be assessed for violating the NLRB rules.
Together, these would not be quite the same as the pro-union Employee Free Choice Act, also known as card check, which stalled in Congress last year, said Baskin. But they come close.
"I do think the biggest danger is that they would try to implement some sort of 'EFCA lite' by pushing the envelope in what the board can do," Baskin said.
The story also appeared on Yahoo Finance News.