News
Labor & Employment Principal Meredith Kirshenbaum is quoted in "Trump Presidency Likely Means a Rollback of Biden-Era Workplace Regulations," published in the January 7, 2025, edition of the American City Business Journals. The article concerns Biden-era rules that will likely face opposition under the new administration.
The article author, Andy Medici, writes that the Trump administration could let court challenges to Biden-era rules stand without appealing or could drop existing appeals. In some cases, the administration may need to rescind a rule, but largely it has the ability to focus on its own priorities without formally issuing new rules.
In the article, Meredith Kirshenbaum comments on the possible implications for the National Labor Relations Board’s ongoing decisions.
The Biden-era NLRB issued a number of decisions designed to boost workers in union elections, including shortening certain time frames and making it easier to get to a vote. The board also weighed in against non-solicitation agreements and non-disparagement clauses, and issued decisions around limiting company meetings to discuss unions.
It also addressed efforts to chill worker organizing and speech activities, which led to a legal battle with billionaire Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk.
Meredith says it is likely a new general counsel for the NLRB will be appointed almost immediately after Trump’s inauguration. The change in administration and NLRB chair will likely benefit employers and businesses, she added.
“Practically speaking, under new prosecutorial leadership, employers are expected to experience less aggressive investigations into alleged unfair labor practice charges and significantly more limited remedies," says Meredith. "This will likely impact both future charges, but also those already under investigation."
Meanwhile, a closely divided Senate rejected a Biden administration effort to nominate an existing NLRB official to a third term. That sets up a divided NLRB that will tilt Republican more quickly with a new Trump nominee — and with a Republican-controlled Senate — than it typically would, as terms normally expire later in a presidential term.
That means many of the NLRB's previous decisions, including the so-called "Cemex" decision — which Meredith says upended decades of labor law and made it easier for unions to organize — will be undone, although it will take time to play out.
“A Republican-led Board is expected to reverse many, if not all, of the recent pro-labor NLRB decisions," says Meredith. "Unlike the change to the general counsel and their prosecutorial agenda, which will be felt immediately, reversals of Biden-era NLRB decisions will likely take months to years."
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