Trump Nominee Peter Robb Confirmed as NLRB General Counsel

The Senate has confirmed Peter B. Robb as the next General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or “Board”).  Mr. Robb, a management side labor lawyer perhaps best known for his representation of the FAA during the 1981 air traffic controllers’ strike, will succeed Richard Griffith, Jr., who was appointed to his four year term by President Barrack Obama in 2013.

Although Mr. Griffin’s term concluded on October 31^st, and the Senate sent Mr. Robb’s confirmation to the President for his signature, to date President Trump has not signed off, with the result that since November 1^st, Deputy General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has been serving as Acting General Counsel.

The Board’s General Counsel “is independent from the Board and is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of unfair labor practice cases and for the general supervision of the NLRB field offices in the processing of cases.” In fact, the General Counsel plays a key role in shaping policy by guiding the Board’s Regional Directors in terms of determining priorities for enforcement and shaping the legal arguments and theories that the attorneys in the Regional Offices will argue before the agencies Administrative Law Judges and the Board itself in unfair labor practice cases.  Notably, the General Counsel has the final and unreviewable decision making authority in investigations and in deciding whether a charge will be dismissed or a complaint will issue. Mr. Griffin was known as an advocate of a broad reading of the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) and for aggressively applying the Act’s protections to employees in non-union businesses.

It is widely expected that once Mr. Robb takes the helm in the General Counsel’s Office that he will pursue an unwinding of many of the expansive actions of his predecessor in areas such as joint-employer, social media, deferral to arbitration and enforcement of class action waivers and mandatory arbitration of disputes between unrepresented employees and their employers.