NLRB Modifies Timing of Electronic Notice Posting in Workplaces Impacted by COVID-19

Washington, D.C. — In a decision issued today in Paragon Systems, Inc., 371 NLRB No. 104, the National Labor Relations Board modified the timing of its electronic notice-posting requirement in circumstances where an employer has not yet reopened its facility due to COVID-19, or where a substantial complement of employees has not yet returned to work on site, and the employer is communicating with employees by electronic means. Under prior law, both physical and any electronic notice posting were deferred in either circumstance to within 14 days of the facility’s reopening and staffing by a substantial complement of employees, as prescribed in Danbury Ambulance Service, 369 NLRB No. 68 (2020). In today’s decision, a Board majority (Chairman McFerran and Members Wilcox and Prouty) held that any required electronic notice posting must occur within 14 days after service by the Region, while retaining the Danbury schedule as to physical posting of the notice. The majority found that advancing the timing of the electronic notice posting to more promptly notify employees of unfair labor practices committed against them, and the steps that would be taken to remedy those violations, would better effectuate the purposes of the Act.  Dissenting on this issue, Members Kaplan and Ring would have adhered to Danbury in its entirety. 

“As our country continues recover from the pandemic, it is important that the Board’s remedies remain relevant to the realities of the workforce,” said Chairman Lauren McFerran. “This prompt posting of the notice by electronic means will best effectuate the purposes of the National Labor Relations Act by providing workers with timely notice of unfair labor practices and the steps that will be taken to remedy them.”