In a 50-48 vote, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Trump administration pick John Ring to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) April 11, according to www.wastedive.com.
Ring, most recently a management-side labor and employment attorney at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Philadelphia, fills the position vacated by former NLRB chair Philip Miscimarra. Marvin Kaplan remains the current chair.
The confirmation restores a 3-2 Republican majority to the board, which likely will lead to revisiting key decisions affecting employers, including the Browning-Ferris joint employer ruling and the election rule affecting worker unionization.
The departure of Miscimarra in December 2017 interrupted the process, but now the Trump administration is expected to resume its rollback of Obama-era labor regulations.
It recently was announced the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals will reconsider the Browning-Ferris rule once business regarding Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors, Ltd. and Brandt Construction Co., the case by which the Browning-Ferris standard was overturned, is resolved.
The NLRB vacated its decision in Hy-Brand following a conflict-of-interest controversy involving board member Bill Emanuel. NLRB General Counsel Peter B. Robb's office has since asked the NLRB to reconsider its decision to vacate Hy-Brand, calling it "an extraordinary three-member ruling without precedent in the annals of Board law." With Ring confirmed, the NLRB could seek another case to address Browning-Ferris.
For the construction industry, reinstating Browning-Ferris means certain subcontractors are once again protected from general contractors' control and oversight.
