Unfair labor practices

An unfair labor practice in US labor law refers to certain actions taken by employers or unions that violate the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (49 Stat. 449) 29 U.S.C. § 151–169 (also known as the NLRA and the Wagner Act after NY Senator Robert F. Wagner) and other legislation. Such acts are investigated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The NLRB has the authority to investigate and remedy unfair labor practices, which are defined in Section 8 of the Act. In broad terms, the NLRB makes it unlawful for an employer to:

The Act similarly bars unions from:

Applying this general language to the real world requires, in the words of Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, "distinctions more nice than obvious". The substantive law applied by the NLRB is described elsewhere under specific headings devoted to particular topics.

Not every unfair act amounts to an unfair labor practice; as an example, failing to pay an individual worker overtime pay for hours worked in excess of forty hours in a week might be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, but it is unlikely to amount to an unfair labor practice as well. Similarly, a violation of a collective bargaining agreement, standing alone, may not constitute an unfair labor practice unless the employer has not only violated the contract but repudiated all or part of it.

While the employees of the NLRB may assist individuals in filing charges, the employees of the NLRB cannot file charges on their own. Under the Act, "any person" (except an employee of the Board) may file a charge with the NLRB.

Such charges must be filed and served within six months of the events that constitute the basis of the charge. This deadline may be extended in some cases, e.g., if the party fraudulently conceals its violations of the law. Charges may also be amended if done so within six months of the alleged violation.

The General Counsel of the NLRB is responsible for investigating unfair labor practice charges and making the decision whether to issue a complaint. This job is delegated to the Regional Director of the region of the NLRB in which the charge has been filed; the Regional Director in turn assigns it to an employee of the region. It is the responsibility of the charging party to identify the witnesses who can support its charge; should it fail to do so the Regional Director will typically dismiss the charge.

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