NLRB’s Ambush Election Rules Are Here To Stay (For Now)

Employers and business groups who had pinned their hopes in stopping the National Labor Relations Board’s so-called “ambush election rules” on a pair of federal lawsuits had a setback on Wedesnday.

According to Law360, judge Amy Berman Jackson, who was appointed by President Obama in 2011, struck down the U.S. Chamber’s lawsuit on Wednesday:

A District of Columbia federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups challenging the National Labor Relations Board’s new rule to speed up the union election process failed to prove the rule violated the National Labor Relations and Administrative Procedure acts.

In granting summary judgment in favor of the NLRB, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson shot down plaintiffs’ claims that the rule “makes sweeping changes to the election process” and “sharply curtails” employers’ constitutional rights.

With this latest ruling, it appears that, unless the Chamber appeals Jackson’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court the NLRB’s election rules will remain in effect and will likely be dependent on the possibility of a Republican president appointing a less pro-union NLRB to reverse the rules.

Whether that occurs won’t be decided until November 2016.