NLRB delays workplace posting rule

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The National Labor Relations Board has postponed the effective date of its controversial new notice-posting rule by more than two months.

According to NLRB officials, the change in implementation date from Nov. 14 of this year to Jan. 31, 2012 will allow for more education and outreach or employers about the rule, which requires most employers to post notices informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

Specifically, the rule requires private-sector employers covered by the Act, including companies whose workers are not unionized, to post an 11-by-17-inch notice in their workplaces stating that employees have the right to act together to improve wages and working conditions, to unionize, to bargain collectively with their employer and to refrain from any of these activities. Willful failure to post the notice may be considered evidence of an unlawful motive in an unfair labor practice case involving other alleged violations of the NLRA, and the Board may also levy fines.

The rule has drawn the ire of some business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which sued to block the rule’s implementation arguing that it violates federal labor and regulatory laws as well as the First Amendment. The Chamber argues that the rule goes beyond the authority of the NLRB.