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Law360 (April 17, 2020, 6:59 PM EDT) -- The National Labor Relations Board issued a status update Friday reminding stakeholders of various changes to its operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, including hearing suspensions and scale backs of in-person work at the agency's regional offices.
Friday's update runs down a series of changes the NLRB has made during the spread of coronavirus, which has also forced operational changes at the other federal labor agencies and across government.
"Many federal agencies have had to modify their procedures to continue operations safely," the agency said in a press release. "The National Labor Relations Board ... is no exception. Fortunately, largely due to the outstanding efforts of its staff, the NLRB has continued to operate throughout this emergency with only some modifications to its practices and procedures."
Those modifications include limiting in-person access to the board's regional offices to appointments while all agency field staff except for "limited essential personnel" continue to telework. The agency has "extensive teleconferencing capabilities but limited video conference capability," but is working to bolster the latter, it said.
The agency continues to accept and investigate unfair labor practice charges, which can be filed online. The agency has not relaxed its time targets for investigations, although it will take affidavits by phone "absent extraordinary circumstances," it said. The board is likewise continuing to file and process cases, and making documents available through its E-File service.
The board's regional offices are still processing and conducting union elections, with the format left up to the discretion of office leadership. Regional directors can hold hearings via teleconference or video conference, although the latter may be delayed, the board said.
Friday's update also said the agency has delayed the effective date of recent regulations relaxing deadlines during representation cases, in which workers vote on whether to form unions, and revising standards limiting or blocking votes to remove unions. The representation rules are set to take effect May 31 and the removal rules will take effect July 31.
--Additional reporting by Danielle Nichole Smith. Editing by Stephen Berg.
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