NFIB adds more claims to challenge of notice posting rule

JACKSON — Ron Aldridge, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said the nation’s leading small-business association is adding new claims to its existing legal challenge to the National Labor Relations Board’s Notice Posting Rule, saying now that President Obama’s Jan. 4 “recess” appointments to the board violated the Constitution.

The complaint argues that the NLRB does not have the authority to enforce the poster rule because the board is operating without a legal quorum because the three appointments last week are not permissible under the law.

“Our members are disappointed and surprised by the President’s move to circumvent the Congressional appointment process by using an executive order to place new members on the NLRB,” Aldridge said.

“Over the past 12 months, the administration has shifted the NLRB from being a neutral arbiter between labor and employers and turned it into a government agency committed to propping up weak unions.”

NFIB’s lawsuit charges that the NLRB’s promulgation of the new rule is an overreach of its statutory authority under the National Labor Relations Act. The rule will impact all employers, including those with no history of NLRA violations. According to NLRB estimates, the rule will impact up to 6 million private-sector businesses around the country, the NFIB said.

The lawsuit asks the court to set aside the rule and declare that the NLRB’s action violates the NLRA.