Trump NLRB Gathering Steam

By Tim Murphy - Skoler Abbott P.C.

September 11, 2026

Hope you had a great Labor Day! We think now is a good time to give you an update on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) under the Trump Administration. 

Ramping Up After a Slow Start

The Trump-Administration NLRB got off to a slow start. For most of 2025, it could not issue any decisions because the five-member board lacked a quorum. By the close of 2025, it regained a quorum but still lacked the Republican majority necessary to undo any decisions of the Obama-era and Biden-era Boards. That changed late this summer with a newly sworn three-member Republican majority.

In a signal that the pace at the NLRB will pick up, General Counsel Crystal Carey has provided a roadmap of case law she wants the Trump-Administration Board to change. [The GC at the NLRB acts as both an administrator and a prosecutor. As a prosecutor, she can set the agenda of the cases to be decided by the Board.] Her newly released GC Memo 26-04, breaks down the cases she’d like overturned into two categories: those already being challenged and those she intends to challenge once she finds the right vehicle to do so. Here’s a sampling of both categories:

Some Cases being Challenged Now

• Severance Agreements (and other Employment Agreements) (McLaren Macomb, 372 NLRB No. 58 (2023)). (We previously wrote about that decision here);
• Work Rules: (Stericycle, 372 NLRB No. 113 (2023));
• Captive Audience Meetings: (Amazon.com Services LLC., 373 NLRB No. 136 (2024)); and
• Dress Codes: (Starbucks Corporation (13 CA-322871, 13-CA-327142)).

Some Challenges for Later

• Bargaining Orders: (Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, 372 NLRB No. 130 (2023), enfd., 2026 WL 1079297 (9th Cir. 2026)). (We previously wrote about that decision here);
• Employers’ Duty to Bargain Prior to Changing Terms and Conditions of Employment: (Wendt Corporation, 372 NLRB No. 135 (2023));
• Union Dues and Objector Representation Fees: (Kroger Limited Partnership, 361 NLRB 420 (2014), vacated, 825 F.3d 778 (D.C. Cir. 2016));
• Protected Concerted Activity: (Miller Plastic Products, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 134 (2023), vacated in part, 141 4th Cir. 492 (3d Cir. 2025) and Lion Elastomers, LLC, II 372 NLRB No. 83, (2023)); and
• Novel and Unprecedented Enhanced Remedies: (Thryv, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 22 (2022), vacated in part, 102 F.4th 727 (5th Cir. 2024)).

Changing labor law can’t be done overnight. Time may run out for the Trump-Administration NLRB and GC Carey before all of the cases targeted can be reversed. But from here to January 20, 2029, we should expect the current Administration to put its stamp on national labor policy.

We'll keep you posted.

www.skoler-abbott.com