NLRB’s Bag of Remedies Gets Bigger

For years the National Labor Relations Board was limited to ordering “make whole” relief. Back pay and reinstatement were the only remedies, even when the employer was a serial offender. In 2022 the Board added consequential damages to its list of countermeasures, and in April 2023 it issued a bulletin stating that when an employer has “a proclivity to violate” the National Labor Relations Act, other potential remedies” will be used to encourage compliance and offer better protection of employees’ Section 7 rights. These include: Adding a notice and explanation of rights to remedial orders that comprehensively inform employees of their rights; requiring a reading of the notice to employees, and possibly requiring the participation of managers or supervisors at the reading; mailing the notice to employees’ homes; mandating that an official of the employer sign the notice; publishing the notice via local media; granting NLRB personnel access to the employer’s facilities to assess compliance; and reimbursing expenses associated with bargaining, including making whole any employees who lost wages due to their attendance at bargaining sessions.