American Staffing Association (04/16/12) Ed Lenz

A federal judge in South Carolina ruled Friday that the National
Labor Relations Board does not have authority to require
employers subject to the National Labor Relations Act to post a
notice advising employees of their rights under the act. In so
ruling, U.S. District Judge David C. Norton said that the
legislative history of the act showed that Congress “did
not intend to impose a universal notice-posting requirement on
employers, nor did it authorize the board to do so.” The
ruling conflicts with a March 2 ruling by a federal district
court in the District of Columbia in which the court held that
failure to post the notice could not be treated as an unfair
labor practice charge or give employees more time to file charges
on other issues, but that the NLRB has the basic authority to
require the notice. (See March 5 issue
of Staffing Today.)

Officials of the NLRB and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the main
plaintiff in the South Carolina case, are examining what effect,
if any, Judge Norton’s ruling should be given beyond South
Carolina. There is speculation that the South Carolina ruling
will be appealed in an effort to resolve the conflict between the
two lower courts. The NLRB notice requirement is currently
scheduled to go into effect on April 30.