Everything the Board Has Done Since Regaining Quorum
An analysis of the 380 published and unpublished board decisions.
Shortly after taking office on January 20, 2025, President Trump fired Board member Gwynne Wilcox, leaving the NLRB without the quorum necessary to issue decisions. On January 7, 2026, Scott Mayer and James Murphy were sworn in as Board members, restoring the agency’s quorum. From January 7, 2026 to July 31, 2026 (the date of this piece), this new Board has issued 380 published and unpublished decisions.
As reflected in the graph below, the vast majority of these decisions were basically unremarkable, routine decisions. Whenever an NLRB administrative law judge (ALJ) issues a decision and the parties do not file exceptions to that decision, it is automatically adopted by the NLRB. Whenever an employer disagrees with a union being certified, it strategically refuses to bargain in order to coax the Board into issuing an unfair-labor-practice decision that can be appealed to a circuit court (called “testing certification”). Whenever an employer or union does not respond to a complaint brought against them by the agency, the Board issues a default judgment against them. And so on.
The only notable thing that occurred in these routine (blue) decisions was the Board formally ending a prior effort to overturn the Ex-Cell-O precedent (I, II). Ex-Cell-O established that employers would not be required to pay compensatory damages for refusing to bargain as part of testing a union’s certification. In Longmont Hospital, the new Board reaffirmed Ex-Cell-O and then proceeded to apply Longmont Hospital to dispose of a dozen cases that had been severed as part of the effort to overturn Ex-Cell-O.
Below I have generated one-sentence summaries of the 58 contested decisions. Some of these are also quite routine in that they involve fairly brief affirmations of ALJ decisions applying uncontroversial Board precedent. But I have decided to include all of the cases for completion purposes.
The 58 contested decisions
Permobil, Inc., January 29, 2026 — The Board declined to accept a non-Board settlement between Permobil and the discharged employee and denied the employer's motion to remand, finding the settlement inadequate because it gave no remedy or notice to the other employees still bound by the unlawful confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions in its Employment Agreement.
Paragon Systems, Inc., February 9, 2026 — The Board granted the rival union's request for review and remanded to the Regional Director for a hearing on whether the incumbent union's contract blocks the election petition, since a local union named in the agreement's preamble never signed it.
Qwest Corporation, a Subsidiary of Lumen Technologies, Inc., f/k/a CenturyLink, Inc., February 11, 2026 — The Board reversed in part, holding that Qwest satisfied its burden of showing that specific documentation breaking out drive, traffic, and parking time within Link2Success productivity scores simply did not exist, so it did not unlawfully withhold that information from Local 7800, while affirming that Qwest unlawfully refused to give District 7 the portions of the supervisors' Link2Success handbook covering technician evaluation criteria, and it severed and remanded the Tech2Go-outage information request to a new judge for credibility findings the original judge never made.
Ge Appliances, a Haier Company, February 24, 2026 — The Board affirmed that GE Appliances violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) by unilaterally raising wages and shift differentials for most bargaining-unit employees without bargaining with the union, and by unreasonably delaying a month before answering the union's information request about who altered vacation-scheduling kiosks after a grievance settlement, while declining to order the requested make-whole extension of the raises to all unit employees.
Solution One Industries, Inc., February 27, 2026 — The Board found that Solution One Industries lacked a sound arguable basis for treating its unwritten, oral assurances as a valid extension under the parties' contract, and held that the company therefore unlawfully modified the collective-bargaining agreement's grievance procedure by refusing to treat five untimely-answered grievances as settled in the union's favor.
Rosewood Care, LLC d/b/a Rosewood Rehabilitation and Nursing, March 4, 2026 — The Board affirmed the judge and held that Rosewood Rehabilitation and Nursing violated the Act by threatening to call police on union representatives and restricting their facility access, unilaterally changing terms of employment without bargaining, refusing to process grievances, and unlawfully discharging steward Nicholas Parker.
Pan American Grain Manufacturing, Co. Inc., March 12, 2026 — The Board granted the Intervenor's request for review and revoked the Regional Director's Certification of Representative, holding that four pending unfair labor practice charges the Intervenor had asked to be blocked on required the certification to be held in abeyance under the Board's former blocking-charge rule until those charges reached final disposition.
Paragon Systems Inc., March 25, 2026 — The Board declined to reconsider its longstanding rule from University of Chicago and affirmed the Regional Director's denial of a mixed guard-nonguard union's motion to intervene in a decertification election involving guard employees.
St. John's College, March 25, 2026 — The Board held that the Regional Director erred by dismissing St. John's College's RM petition seeking an election to test the union's majority claim, clarifying that Cemex's "prompt filing" deadline governs only unfair labor practice defenses, not representation-case petitions.
Alante Security Group Inc., March 26, 2026 — The Board declined to reconsider University of Chicago and affirmed the regional director's denial of a motion to intervene by an admittedly mixed guard-nonguard union, since Section 9(b)(3) bars certifying such unions in guard-unit elections.
Arrow Security, March 26, 2026 — The Board declined to reconsider University of Chicago and affirmed the Regional Director's denial of a motion to intervene by a mixed guard-nonguard union in a representation election for guard employees.
St. Anthony Community Hospital, March 26, 2026 — The Board reversed the judge's finding that St. Anthony Community Hospital unlawfully fired radiology technician Andrea Roe for union activity, holding the hospital proved it would have discharged her anyway because it reasonably believed she accessed a patient's chart without cause and improperly disclosed his medical information to a relative in violation of HIPAA.
Universal Protection Service, LLC d/b/a Allied Universal Security Services, March 26, 2026 — The Board declined to reconsider University of Chicago and affirmed the Regional Director's denial of SEIU Local 32BJ's motion to intervene, holding that a mixed guard-nonguard union still cannot appear on the ballot or otherwise participate in a guard unit's election.
BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., March 27, 2026 — The Board affirmed the judge's finding that a club manager unlawfully interrogated employees about their union sympathies, but agreed the incidents were isolated and undisseminated, so it certified the election results in favor of no union representation.
Forepeak Steel, LLC, March 27, 2026 — Forepeak Steel violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) by laying off ironworkers and closing its shop without notifying the union or bargaining over the decisions and their effects, so the Board affirmed the judge's findings, ordered effects bargaining and backpay, and corrected the conclusions of law to drop an unalleged decision-bargaining violation over the closure.
Century Linen & Uniform, Inc., April 7, 2026 — The Board found that Century Linen unlawfully assisted a decertification petition by directly soliciting employee signatures, so it could not lawfully rely on that petition to withdraw recognition from the Union, and it also unilaterally restricted union access, granted a wage increase, interrogated an employee, told workers the Union was gone, and threatened an employee for complying with a Board subpoena.
International Longshoremen's Association Local 1694, AFL-CIO (GT USA Wilmington, LLC), April 7, 2026 — The Board affirmed that ILA Local 1694 unlawfully threatened and refused to refer dissident member Standford Fowler through its exclusive hiring hall, and reversed the judge to hold the union also unlawfully refused to refer him after March 5, 2022, since its own misconduct made further referral requests futile.
International Longshoremen's Association, Local 1526 (Florida International Terminals), April 7, 2026 — The Board affirmed the judge's finding that the Union, through Local President Dixon, breached its duty of fair representation by handling Tony Williams's hiring-hall seniority claim in an arbitrary, discriminatory, and bad-faith manner, and unlawfully threatened members with retaliation for filing Board charges and testifying in Board proceedings.
Prime Communications, LP, April 7, 2026 — The Board affirmed that Prime Communications violated Section 8(a)(1) by issuing and maintaining severance agreements whose nondisparagement and confidentiality clauses were overly broad, applying McLaren Macomb without three votes to revisit it, and ordered the offending language rescinded.
American Postal Workers Union, Local 512 (United States Postal Service), April 8, 2026 — The Board found that American Postal Workers Union, Local 512, violated Section 8(b)(1)(A) by failing in bad faith to process a member's grievances over her suspension and discharge and by lying to her about their status, reversing the judge's dismissal of the complaint as untimely under Section 10(b).
Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., d/b/a BFI Newby Island Recyclery and FPR-II, LLC, April 8, 2026 — The Board denied Browning-Ferris's motion for reconsideration, rejecting its argument that its bargaining order must be limited to only those terms and conditions it actually controls as a joint employer, and reaffirmed the standard bargaining remedy ordered against it.
Korean Resource Center, Inc., April 9, 2026 — The Board dismissed the complaint, holding that Hwang's discharge did not violate the Act because his email criticizing the mural design to a third party was neither undertaken for mutual aid and protection nor adequately linked to a labor dispute, and it declined to reconsider Electrolux Home Products, Tschiggfrie Properties, and 800 River Road.
Blue Ribbon Plumbing, Inc., d/b/a Workman & Sons Plumbing, April 13, 2026 — The Board reversed the Regional Director's decision setting aside a lost union election over wage increases, interrogations, and a threat to close the business, finding that even assuming the misconduct occurred, too few employees were affected and it was not shown to have spread further to change the outcome.
RRI West Management, LLC, an Affiliate of the Westmont Hospitality Group, April 17, 2026 — The Board affirmed that Red Roof Plus unlawfully discharged sales representative Diandra Diaz for engaging in protected concerted activity by raising coworkers' COVID and workplace concerns, rejecting the employer's claim she was fired for poor performance, and also affirmed that telling her to stop counseling other employees about their working conditions independently violated Section 8(a)(1).
OQ Chemicals Corporation, April 27, 2026 — The Board granted review of whether the Employer's Work Group Leads are statutory supervisors based on responsible direction, invited briefing on that issue and on secondary indicia of supervisory status, and otherwise denied review, including rejecting the Employer's claim that the Leads effectively recommend promotions to "Step-Up" positions for lack of evidentiary support.
New World Communications of Detroit, Inc., d/b/a Fox Television STATIONS, LLC. (WJBK-TV)WJBK-TV, April 28, 2026 — The Board granted review, found the record insufficiently developed to establish that the petitioned-for news producers shared a community of interest with the existing NABET-CWA unit, and affirmed dismissal of the petition on that evidentiary ground while ruling the dismissal would have no preclusive effect.
Aqua-Chem Inc., April 30, 2026 — The Board affirmed the judge's finding that Aqua-Chem violated Section 8(a)(1) by removing union organizing signs the Tennessee Pipe Trades Association had placed on public right-of-way near its Knoxville facility, and ordered the signs returned or their cost reimbursed.
Garland Symphony Orchestra Association, Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra Association, April 30, 2026 — The Board held that the symphony employer violated Section 8(a)(5), (1), and 8(d) by unilaterally cutting musicians' minimum pay and imposing a broad exigent-circumstances clause mid-term without the union's consent, while reversing the judge's findings on the players-committee provision and direct dealing.
South Sound Inpatient Physicians, PLLC and Joint Employer PeaceHealth, April 30, 2026 — South Sound Inpatient Physicians did not lose joint-employer control over its hospitalists' pay and conditions to PeaceHealth: the Board reversed the regional director and held that PeaceHealth's interview participation, credentialing requirement, charting rules, and malpractice-insurance mandate fell short of the substantial direct and immediate control required by Section 103.40.
Adt, LLC, May 5, 2026 — The Board affirmed the judge's findings that ADT, LLC violated Section 8(a)(5) by unlawfully withdrawing recognition from the union, dealing directly with employees about a new incentive program, and helping employees circulate a decertification petition while promising them benefits if they ousted the union.
Gretna Racing, LLC, d/b/a Magic City Casino, May 7, 2026 — The Board affirmed the judge's finding that Magic City Casino violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) by refusing to let UNITE HERE Local 355 view surveillance video of a housekeeping meeting relevant to disciplinary grievances, rejecting the employer's belated confidentiality defense.
Apple Inc., May 13, 2026 — The Board affirmed the judge's dismissal of the complaint, holding that Apple did not unlawfully discipline and discharge Ellen Shen over her mass emails on workplace culture because the General Counsel failed to prove she engaged in protected concerted activity.
Laborers International Union of North America, Local 872, AFL-CIO, May 13, 2026 — The Board dismissed the complaint in its entirety, adopting the ALJ's finding that Local 872 did not breach its duty of fair representation by maintaining unwritten strike-waiver practices in its hiring hall or by declining to hand over registration information to a dissident nonmember.
Ge Appliances, a Haier Company, May 14, 2026 — The Board affirmed the judge's dismissal of the complaint, holding that GE Appliances did not violate the Act by issuing LaDonna Dawson a written warning and discharging her, because her overtime complaints were not protected concerted activity under Interboro and the General Counsel failed to show the discipline was motivated by antiunion animus under Wright Line.
Kroger Texas L.P., May 20, 2026 — The Board affirmed that Kroger unlawfully stopped deducting and remitting union dues under expired dues-checkoff provisions once the collective-bargaining agreements lapsed, adhering to Valley Hospital II and rejecting the company's impasse, waiver, and delay defenses.
Refugee & Immigrant Care Center for Education and Legal Services, May 20, 2026 — The Board granted review of whether Supervising Attorneys, Supervising Legal Assistants, and Refugee Resettlement Program Managers are statutory supervisors based on their authority to assign work, while denying review of the Regional Director's findings that these classifications lack supervisory authority to hire or discipline.
Atlantic American Fire Protection Company, Inc., May 21, 2026 — The Board affirmed that Atlantic American Fire Protection violated the Act by threatening, interrogating, and firing employees, cutting holiday bonuses and turkeys, and withdrawing recognition after workers unionized, and it ordered reinstatement, backpay, and an extraordinary notice-reading and bargaining remedy while declining, absent a majority, to overrule Ex-Cell-O Corp.
Os-Db-Jv-2, LLC, May 22, 2026 — The Board affirmed the ALJ's finding that OS-DB-JV-2, LLC violated Section 8(a)(5) by refusing to give the union payroll, schedule, holiday, vacation, and sick-leave records it requested to administer their new contract, and by unreasonably delaying eight weeks in telling the union when a promised pay raise would take effect.
United States Postal Service, May 22, 2026 — The Board affirmed the judge's dismissal of the complaint, holding that the Postal Service did not violate Section 8(a)(3) and (1) by placing Antwon Thompson on emergency placement leave or discharging him, because it would have taken the same action based on his attendance and workplace conduct regardless of his requests for a union steward.
Nitro Construction Services, May 28, 2026 — The Board affirmed that Nitro Construction Services unlawfully laid off two electricians for raising COVID-19 safety concerns and asserting contractual pay rights, but dismissed claims that it later refused to hire one of them in retaliation.
Floss N Gloss d/b/a Aqua Dental, June 1, 2026 — The Board affirmed the judge's finding that Aqua Dental violated Section 8(a)(1) by disciplining and firing employee Sandra Estrada for protected concerted activity, an anonymous email raising workplace concerns, while applying the Thryv make-whole remedy without deciding whether to reconsider it.
JSK Parsippany, LLC, d/b/a Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, and Fairfield Parsippany, LLC, June 4, 2026 — The Board affirmed that Fairfield Parsippany, as successor to JSK Parsippany, violated the Act by refusing to hire union-supporting workers, discharging and refusing to reinstate employees, refusing to recognize and bargain with the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, unilaterally changing terms of employment, and withholding information the Union requested.
Starbucks Corporation, June 5, 2026 — The Board affirmed the ALJ's finding that Starbucks violated Section 8(a)(1) when supervisors at three Seattle stores called or texted employees during strikes to ask about their strike plans without explaining the purpose of the questions or assuring employees against reprisal.
Starbucks Corporation, June 5, 2026 — The Board affirmed dismissal of most claims that Starbucks illegally disciplined or fired pro-union workers, but held the company unlawfully tightened dress code enforcement at one store without first bargaining with the union.
A+E Factual Productions, LLC, June 8, 2026 — The Board granted review and vacated the Regional Director's determination that co-executive producers, post supervising producers, supervising producers, and field supervisory producers were not statutory supervisors, finding he wrongly decided the deferred issue without letting the parties litigate it, and it directed that ballots from those disputed classifications be impounded pending resolution if outcome-determinative.
Parking Systems, Inc., June 9, 2026 — The Board affirmed that Parking Systems Plus violated Section 8(a)(3) and (1) by refusing to hire Classic's unionized valet attendants to avoid a bargaining obligation, and violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) as Classic's successor by refusing to recognize the Union and unilaterally setting initial employment terms.
M.J. Melo Painting Ltd., June 10, 2026 — The Board affirmed that M.J. Melo Painting unlawfully discharged five employees by ceasing to assign them work and constructively discharged four more by cutting their hours in retaliation for union organizing, and it directed that four challenged election ballots be opened and counted.
United States Postal Service, June 11, 2026 — The Board held that the Postal Service violated Section 8(a)(1) by maintaining a rule barring employees from collecting signatures on petitions, polls, or surveys on postal property, finding the policy applied to employees and unlawfully restricted their organizing and safety-advocacy activity.
Anheuser-Busch, LLC, June 12, 2026 — The Board held that Anheuser-Busch violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) by unilaterally applying its Dispute Resolution Program to compel a bargaining-unit employee's Title VII discrimination lawsuit into arbitration without bargaining with the union, and ordered the company to withdraw its arbitration motion and reimburse the employee's legal expenses.
Amazon.com Services, LLC, July 2, 2026 — The Board affirmed the ALJ's findings that Amazon, through contracted security guards and managers acting as its agents, unlawfully barred employees from distributing union literature and unlawfully surveilled their organizing activity, but dismissed the claim that Amazon discharged employee Daequan Smith because of his union activity, finding insufficient evidence even under a cat's-paw theory.
Essentia Health, July 15, 2026 — The Board granted Essentia Health's request for review, agreeing to decide whether its Health Care Rule governs the composition of a petitioned-for unit spanning both acute-care hospitals and non-acute clinics, or whether the American Steel community-of-interest standard applies instead, and invited briefs on the question rather than deciding it.
Norwich University - The Military College of Vermont, July 20, 2026 — The Board granted the employer's request for review on whether the petitioned-for unit met the American Steel Construction community-of-interest standard, but denied review of the objections, upholding the certification despite a Board agent's inaccurate remarks about the hearing's scope.
Enright Seeding, Inc., July 21, 2026 — The Board dismissed the complaint on remand, holding that the union's information-request charge was time-barred under Section 10(b) because Enright Seeding gave clear and unequivocal notice on August 4, 2016 that it had repudiated its Section 8(f) construction-industry bargaining agreement, more than six months before the union filed its charge.
Starbucks Corporation, July 22, 2026 — The Board reversed the regional director and sustained challenges to two hand-delivered mail ballots in a union election, ruling that voters who bypassed the required mail-in procedure had their ballots properly excluded, and certified a tied result as no union victory.
Kroger Limited Partnership I d/b/a Kroger Delta Division, July 23, 2026 — The Board affirmed that Kroger violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) by unilaterally ending union dues checkoff after its contracts expired, without bargaining to impasse, and by unreasonably delaying the union's request for a spreadsheet tracking employees' payroll errors.
President and Fellows of Harvard College (Harvard University), July 23, 2026 — The Board affirmed the judge's finding that Harvard violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) by refusing to give the police union a consultant's report on a detective's handling of a student sexual assault investigation, rejecting Harvard's relevance and confidentiality defenses.
Inland Waters Pollution Control, Inc., July 29, 2026 — The Board affirmed that Inland Waters Pollution Control unlawfully discharged Shinar Reed and Quamaar Haashiim for union and protected concerted activity, but reversed the judge and found that the company's bargaining-table proposal to discipline employees for filing "baseless" grievances, and accompanying remarks calling Reed's grievances excessive, did not unlawfully threaten employees under Section 8(a)(1).
Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Inc., July 29, 2026 — The Board held that the petitioned-for warehouse classifications (warehousemen and a warehouse supervisor) share a community of interest with an existing 65-year-old bargaining unit, reversed the Regional Director's denial of a self-determination election for them, and remanded for that election to be held.