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Apr 27, 2012

By Eric B. Meyer

On Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board‘s “quickie” election rules survived a challenge in the U.S. Senate. Next week — April 30 to be exact — they go into effect.

Hey! Isn’t that when the poster rules were supposed to go into effect, too?

In anticipation of April 30, employers will want to familiarize themselves with this memo from NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon — we are presenting at the same event today — discussing the new representation case procedures. The guidance covers the entire representation case process from beginning to end, incorporating to the extent necessary the new rules and the procedures that remain unchanged.

And if you don’t feel like plowing through a 24-page memo, the General Counsel’s office also issued a set of Frequently Asked Questions explaining the Board’s revised rules and the procedures.

Although the new “quickie” election rules do not set new, specific time frames for conducting hearings or elections, it appears likely that the time from petition to election will decrease. So, now is the time to do something about possible unionization of your workforce so that, if a Representation petition is filed, your business is prepared to respond.

This was originally published on Eric B. Meyer’s blog, The Employer Handbook.