General Counsel Abruzzo Issues Memo on Harmonizing the NLRA and EEO Laws

You are subscribed to Press Releases for National Labor Relations Board. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. General Counsel Abruzzo Issues Memo on Harmonizing the NLRA and EEO Laws 01/16/2025 11:23 AM EST January 16, 2025 Today, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memo to all field offices on the harmonization of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws. The memorandum emphasizes the importance of complying with all requirements of the NLRA and the EEO laws and offers suggestions in certain key areas on how to effectuate compliance and ensure that employees receive full protections under the laws. Specifically, it addresses and provides examples for complying with both bodies of law in three key areas—workplace civility rules, investigative confidentiality policies, and employee speech or conduct in the context of NLRA-protected activity that could potentially implicate federal EEO law. “In workplaces across the country, the NLRA and the EEO laws routinely operate in harmony, often in furtherance of shared goals and with reliance on shared principles. Such harmonization is possible because neither body of law sets forth absolutes in areas of potential overlap. Each leaves space for the other to operate,” said General Counsel Abruzzo. “Regulated parties thus can and must understand and comply with both sets of laws. Importantly, they should not purport to invoke their obligations under one to avoid their responsibilities under the other.”

NLRB General Counsel Issues Updated Representation Case Guidance

January 17, 2025 Today, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued updated guidance on representation cases, including an updated version of the Office of the General Counsel’s Outline of Law and Procedure in Representation Cases (“Outline”), the Casehandling Manual Part Two on Representation Proceedings, and an Operations-Management Memorandum. The Outline is a guidance document detailing developments in Board election and representation law and serves as a research tool. Originally issued in the early 1960s, the last major revision to the Outline was in 2017, and the NLRB has issued updated supplements for each subsequent year. The 2025 revision includes developments related to: jurisdiction, unit clarification petitions, and unit-determination and community-of-interest principles, among others. The Outline also reflects recent rulemaking by the Board. The 2025 Outline was edited by Terence G. Schoone-Jongen, Director of the Board’s Office of Representation Appeals. The Outline and other resources can be found under “Manuals and Guides” on the NLRB’s website. General Counsel Abruzzo also issued an OM Memorandum to all Field Offices related to updating the Casehandling Manual Part Two and summarizing Agency procedures regarding mail ballot elections. The memo also clarifies processes regarding RM petitions, and incorporates the changes resulting from the Board’s Fair Choice-Employee Voice Rule. “I have no doubt that the Outline will prove to be an invaluable resource for labor law practitioners, workers and their representatives, employers, academics/legal researchers and other members of the public,” said General Counsel Abruzzo. “Overall, these resources will assist greatly in effectuating our important mission of protecting workers’ rights to engage together and collectively bargain through representatives of their free choosing.”