In 2011, the National Labor Relations Act issued a ruling requiring employers who are covered by the NLRA to post notices in the workplace informing employees of their rights under the NLRA. Since that ruling, several groups and organizations have undertaken legal challenges to this policy in various courts throughout the country.
In the latest court decision, a three judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a ruling last month that struck down the NLRA’s posting requirement. The primary reason for the court’s invalidation of the rule relied on the concept of a wrongful restriction on employers’ freedom of speech or, as this case demonstrates, the right not to speak.
While employers do not currently have to post the notice, in all likelihood, the NLRA poster rule is not fully settled yet. In addition to cases pending in other jurisdictions, this particular case could be reviewed by the full D.C. Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court.