Today the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held in a unanimouns ruling that President Obama’s appointments to the NLRB while the Senate was in recess were unconstitutional. The Court based its holding on the fact that the Senate technically remained in session during the 20 day “recess” and thus the President could not appoint a member to the NLRB without Senate confirmation.
Expect this decision to be appealed to the United States Supreme Court. If the decision is upheld, or the Supreme Court doesn’t take the case, all the decisions by this improperly appointed Board will be invalid. The majority of those decisions, including decisions on social media policies and at-will disclaimers, are very anti-employer. This will be interesting to watch, so stay tuned.
You can read more about the decision at this link. http://www.chamberlitigation.com/noel-canning-v-national-labor-relations-board-nlrb
Tennessee Employment Law 