The NLRB has advised its employees in a message posted on the Employee Information section of its website that the Agency has initiated a process to resume full operations. As such, all employees should make every effort to return to work on Thursday, October 17, 2013. This reflects the fact that, as the Board has informed its employees who may not have been following developments in Washington too closely, that “late last night President Obama signed legislation to extend the nation's debt limit and end the partial shutdown of the federal government.”
As we previously reported, during the shutdown the Board suspended all operations at its Regional Offices and sua sponte granted parties to pending cases a stay and extensions for filings on a day for day basis for the duration of the shutdown. Now that the NLRB is reopening today, those stays are over and deadlines will be active. The Board will obviously need some time to reschedule hearings, elections and other proceedings that were placed on hold during the shutdown.