Tag: FMCS

NLRB ADR Pilot Program

NLRB Promotes ADR Pilot Program

For many years, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has been increasing in popularity as a means of resolving legal controversies. ADR methods including mediation and arbitration can help avoid lawsuits or get them out of the court systems more expeditiously. On July 10, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) launched a pilot program to ramp up its use of ADR.

ADR in Labor Disputes

ADR is common in labor disputes. Most collective bargaining agreements between unions and employers provide for arbitration of grievances that the parties can’t mutually resolve. There, arbitration replaces court litigation over breach of contract claims.

Mediation, usually through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), also plays a role in resolving disputes between unions and employers in collective bargaining.

NLRB Pilot Program

According to the NLRB’s press release, “[t]he new pilot program will increase participation opportunities for parties in the ADR program and help to facilitate mutually-satisfactory settlements.”

The program tasks the NLRB’s Office of the Executive Secretary with “proactively” engaging parties to determine whether their cases should enter the ADR program. Parties may also initiate a request to participate in the program. The NLRB’s ADR program imposes no direct fees or costs on the parties.

Once in the ADR program, parties may voluntarily withdraw from it at any time. Their cases would then proceed under standard NLRB procedures.

History of the NLRB’s ADR Program

The NLRB’s ADR program itself is not new. It was initially established in 2005 to assist parties in resolving pending unfair labor practice cases. The Board reports that approximately 60% of the cases entering the program have settled with the assistance of a mediator.

The NLRB typically provides mediators through the FMCS. Settlement discussions in mediation remain confidential.

According to its website, “The Board established the ADR program in response to the success experienced by other federal agencies and the federal courts in settling contested cases through ADR, as well as the success of the NLRB’s own settlement judge program at the trial level.”

What Employers Should Expect

In announcing this “pilot program” the NLRB seems to be emphasizing the value of a program it already had in place. It is also apparently making ADR available to parties earlier. Consequently, employers can expect the NLRB’s Regional Offices to encourage greater participation in ADR to resolve unfair labor practice charges. Whether this pressure should be welcomed will depend on the facts of a particular case. But it is a good idea to discuss the possibility of mediation with your labor relations team upon receipt of a charge, as there may be cases where relatively early participation would be beneficial. The value of mediation may appear later in other cases, and not at all in some.

 

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Trump Labor Posts Ring Stoker

Trump Finds Labor Posts for Ring & Stoker

After former National Labor Relations Board Chairman Philip Miscimarra announced he would not serve another term, two names emerged as potential replacements: John Ring and Mike Stoker. On January 12, 2018, President Trump officially indicated his intent to nominate both to federal labor roles.

As expected, John Ring is the pick to fill Miscimarra’s seat on the NLRB. Trump tapped Stoker to be the Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).

John Ring

Republican attorney John Ring is a partner in Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP‘s Washington, D.C. office. He co-leads the firm’s labor/management relations practice and holds other firm administration positions. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Catholic University and his law degree from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law.

Ring is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and President of the Board of Directors of Friends of the National Zoo.

Impact on the NLRB

If confirmed, Ring will join Chairman Marvin Kaplan and William Emanuel to give the NLRB a 3-2 Republican majority. With a brief period of Republican control under former Chairman Miscimarra at the end of 2017, the Board began reversing key Obama-era precedents. Unfinished business includes potential revisions to the NLRB’s “quickie election” rules implemented in 2014.

Mike Stoker

Mike Stoker is a Republican politician and attorney from California. His former roles include Chairman of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (1995-2001) and Deputy Secretary of State (2001-2002). He has also held chairman positions with the Santa Barbara Air Pollution Control District, Santa Barbara Association of Governments, and Santa Barbara County Water Agency and Flood Control board and served on the Agricultural Advisory Board to the California Superintendent of Public Instruction and on the Southern California Hazardous Waste Management Board.

Stoker ran for the California State Assembly in 2010 and the State Senate in 2012.

He received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California, Berkeley and his law degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

About the FMCS

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service was created in 1947. It is designed to be an independent agency whose mission is to preserve and promote labor-management peace and cooperation. It pursues this mission primarily through mediation and alternative collective bargaining processes.

Beyond Ring, Stoker

Few companies will ever know or care about the identities of John Ring and Mike Stoker. Yet the agencies the President Trump is entrusting to these men affect many workplaces.

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