Unfair Labor Practices Now Take Over 400 Days to Get to Complaint

Processing time has radically increased over the last few years.

For the last few years, NLRB practitioners have been grumbling about case processing times. Everyone knows things have gotten worse at the agency, but how bad has it actually gotten?

To answer that question, I compiled a dataset that contains all of the docket entries for around 350,000 cases opened at the NLRB from 2010 to the present. Using that dataset, I am able to isolate all of the cases where an unfair labor practice (“ULP”) charge was filed and a complaint was subsequently issued. Using only those cases, I am able to calculate the median number of days that elapsed between the initial filing of a ULP charge and the issuance of a complaint in each year, which is displayed in the graph below.

Between 2012 and 2021, the median number of days hovered between 100 and 150. But in the last four years, the processing time has dramatically increased, climbing to 441 days last year.

Once a complaint is filed, there is a hearing that results in an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) decision. Using the same method as before, I can also analyze the dockets to determine how many days typically elapse between a complaint being issued and an ALJ decision. In 2025, it was 245 days.

Once an ALJ decision is issued, if exceptions are filed to that decision, the NLRB must issue a Board decision. Last year, the Board lacked a quorum for almost the entire year and so virtually no Board decisions were issued. In the below graph, I have plotted the median days between an ALJ Decision and a Board Decision from 2012 to 2024.

All of these times are way too long, but the huge spike in the first graph — the time elapsed between charge and complaint — is by far the most troubling. The NLRB likes to point out that the vast majority of cases settle prior to the issuance of a complaint. But there is nothing to pressure an employer to settle if there is not an active investigation and if a complaint is not looming. So if it is taking longer to get cases to that point, it is going to take longer for all cases to resolve, not just those that make it to an ALJ.

For victims of unfair labor practices, justice delayed really is justice denied. Individuals who are illegal fired, for instance, cannot afford to wait a year or more for reinstatement and back pay. Weak remedies combined with endless delay threatens to create an essentially lawless situation where employers can disregard NLRA-protected rights at will.