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On February 14th, 2025, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Acting General Counsel William Cowen rescinded more than a dozen NLRB labor law policies. Specifically, Memorandum 25-05 (GC 25-05) eliminates numerous labor law policies introduced as “memos” under previous administrations. Chiefly, the reason for the eliminations is an unsustainable backlog of cases due to these specific rules. Eventually, Acting General Counsel Cohen plans to publish new guidance to replace some rescinded memos. Earlier, it was reported that the NLRB will continue operations after President Donald Trump removed the previous General Counsel and fired a board member. These departures left the NLRB without a quorum.
What Are the General Counsel’s Labor Law Policies?
According to Littler, the General Counsel’s (GC’s) labor law policies are all released as “memos.” Accordingly, these memos are nonbinding guidance used to instruct and inform field staff about the NLRB’s priorities. Not to mention these memos also advise employers and workers on how the GC will handle current, important issues. Many of these issues include the protection of employee rights as outlined by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
Overview of Memorandum 25-05 (GC 25-05)
In brief, the new rescission memo, GC 25-05, signals the new general counsel’s priorities regarding labor law policies. For example, GC 25-05 withdraws previous GC Memoranda 22-06 and 24-04. These two policies addressed the NLRB’s prior policy on expanding remedies in settlements decided upon by the agency. Cowen also rescinded GC Memoranda 23-05 and 23-08, which addressed non-compete agreements and the NLRA. Finally, GC 25-05 eliminated GC Memorandum 22-04, which addressed mandatory work meetings to discuss labor issues.
Other affected labor law policies include:
- GC 23-02: Electronic Monitoring and Algorithmic Management of Employees Interfering with the Exercise of Section 7 Rights
- GC 25-01: Remedying the Harmful Effects of Non-Compete and “Stay-or-Pay” Provisions that Violate the National Labor Relations Act
- GC 25-02: Ensuring Settlement Agreements Adequately Address the Public Rights at Issue in the Underlying Unfair Labor Practice Allegations
It is important to note that the memos discussed earlier in this section are not the complete list of items that GC 25-05 eliminated. For more information, employers should review the memo released on February 14.
Employer Takeaways
In conclusion, the creation and distribution of GC 25-05 will most likely lead to a re-examination of all NLRB decisions made over recent years. As noted earlier, however, the NLRB is currently without a quorum and any changes or new issues could not be addressed until that happens. In the meantime, though, the rescission of some of the agency’s labor law policies is a clear sign that more change is probably on the horizon. Employers should work with their legal counsel to ensure that they are in full compliance with NLRA regulations at all times to avoid possible fines and lawsuits.
