Senator Tim Scott Announces Support for New Bill to Significantly Reform the National Labor Relations Board

Washington, DC– U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) today announced support for the National Labor Relations Board Reform Act, S.2814, which when enacted will turn the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) back to a neutralarbiter, an impartial and unbiased board protecting the rights of both employers and employees. It would also keep the general counsel from operating as an activist for one side or the other.

“South Carolina has experienced firsthand what happens when the National Labor Relations Board tries to bully a state and I’m proud we fought back and won,” said U.S. Senator Tim Scott, a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. “The National Labor Relations Board Reform Act will go a long way toward stopping the ongoing partisan actions of the Obama Administration and the activist board. From their attempts to undermine secret ballots for union elections to the President’s unconstitutional play to stack the board with leftwing partisans that would side exclusively with big unions, the NLRB is out of control and must be changed now.

Senator Scott continued, The “National Labor Relations Board Reform Act is a needed first step to putting the NLRB in its proper role as a neutralarbiter, an impartial and unbiased board protecting the rights of both employers and employees. By reforming the NRLB, we can continue to make it easier to get our economy back on track and allow more South Carolina workers to get back to good paying jobs.”

The National Labor Relations Board Reform Act, introduced by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), addresses three problems with the board-its partisanship, its activist general counsel, and its slow decision-making-with three commonsense solutions. The legislation will:

• End partisan advocacy: To put an end to the partisanship, this legislation would increase the number of board members from five to six, requiring an even split between Republicans and Democrats. All decisions would require the agreement of four board members, resulting in consensus from both sides. The five-year terms of the board members would be synched up over time so that a Republican and Democrat seat are up for nomination at the same time.
• Rein in the general counsel: The board’s most recent general counsels have stretched federal labor law to its limits-and sometimes beyond. With this bill, parties will have 30 days to seek review of a general counsel’s complaint in federal district court and will have new discovery rights allowing them to obtain memoranda and other documents relevant to the complaint within 10 days.
• Encourage timely decision-making: The NLRB is taking too long to resolve cases. Under the NLRB Reform Act, either party in a case before the board may appeal to a Federal Court of Appeals if the board fails to reach a decision in their case within one year. To further incentivize speedy decision-making, funding for the entire NLRB would be reduced by 20 percent if the board is not able to decide 90 percent of its cases within one year over the first two-year period post-reform.

Senator Scott has long been a leader in calling for NLRB reforms. During a July 2013 hearing where he questioned President Obama’s NLRB nominees, he highlighted the challenges the NLRB faces due to its activist board. Watch Senator Scotts comment’shere.

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