Business groups appeal court ruling on union poster rule

By Kevin Bogardus - 03/05/12 05:53 PM ET

Several business groups filed appeals Monday to a court ruling that allowed the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to require union posters in the workplace.

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) filed notices of appeal against a judge’s decision Friday that said the NLRB had the legal authority to require employers to post notices at their worksites explaining collective bargaining rights.

“Manufacturers will appeal this decision on the numerous grounds available in order to reverse this unfair rule. The Board has grossly overstepped its authority, and the NAM will enter every arena necessary, including the courts, to protect manufacturers and rein in this rogue agency,” said Jay Timmons, NAM’s president and CEO, in a statement.

Karen Harned, executive director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center, said the court “has failed to protect the small-business community from frivolous lawsuits by unions and other costly and punitive measures.”

“As a result, small business-owners are vulnerable to the whims of the NLRB, which has devolved from a neutral arbiter between labor and employers to a pro-union government agency. We will be appealing our claims that the NLRB does not have rulemaking authority, our First Amendment claim and our challenge to the alleged recess appointments,” Harned said in a statement.

Trade associations first sued against the regulation last year.

In her ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the NLRB was well within its authority to issue the rule, but said that NLRB cannot “make a blanket advance determination” that failing to post the notice will always be “an unfair labor practice” by employers, though it can be considered in individual cases.

The judge also denied that the poster rule infringed upon employers’ First Amendment rights and refused to take up a challenge to President Obama’s controversial recess appointments to the labor board.

The rule is set go into effect on April 30.