NLRB Update

While the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is officially back in business, we will need to be patient to see changes in the law. However, changes in procedures are already underway.

The new General Counsel, Crystal Carey, will not start her term focusing on cases or issues she wants the Board to reconsider. Ms. Carey will instead focus first on operational matters to help staff clear an extensive backlog of cases. This may result in some favorable procedural changes. 

Ms. Carey explains: “[I]t has become evident that the impact of recent years has been profound. There have been constant shifts in priorities, impediments to settlements that all parties otherwise agree to, ever-changing demands on cases to be submitted to Headquarters for review, and an overarching lack of consistency in case processing and enforcement across Regions. . . . In the coming weeks, I intend to issue guidance on operational focused topics such as case processing, settlements, and remedies all aimed at achieving consistent, fair and prompt resolution of charges across the Agency.” 

Changes in procedure are already under way. In December 2025, the interim General Counsel, William Cowen, changed procedures for processing and assigning charges. Under these new procedures, charges filed after October 1, 2025 will not be assigned to a Board Agent for investigation until the Charging Party provides sufficient evidence to support the charge. This evidence must be filed within two weeks of the filing of a charge; failure to do so may result in dismissal of the charge. The evidence will be evaluated by staff members and the Region will then decide if the charge should be assigned for investigation or dismissed. Even if the charge will be sent to investigation, it will remain unassigned until there is a Board Agent with sufficient capacity to timely investigate the charge (unless it is a priority or related to an existing case). 

Employers filing or receiving charges need to be aware of these new procedures. If you are filing a charge, you will want to make sure you have supporting evidence ready to go, specifically a chronology of relevant events and communications, relevant documentation, and a list of witnesses with contact information and a brief summary of their testimony. On the receiving end, it is possible that a charge may be dismissed early before any response is needed from you. Alternatively, if an investigator is assigned to a charge you receive, you should be ready for the investigation to proceed quickly.  

We will keep you posted of further changes and developments in the days to come. While substantive changes may be slow to develop, we can all be encouraged that more reasonable minds have returned to the NLRB. If you have specific questions about a NLRB case, please contact a KZA attorney. 

KZA Employer Report articles are for general information only; they are not intended and should not be construed to be legal advice. Reading or replying to such articles does not establish an attorney-client relationship. In addition, because the subject matters and applicable laws discussed in Employer Report articles are often in a state of change and not always applicable to every type of business entity or organization, readers should consult with counsel before making decisions based on the same.