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The NLRB reopened from shutdown status on November 13, 2025. Due dates to file or serve most documents were tolled during the period of the shutdown, although due dates cannot be tolled for filing and service of unfair labor practice charges, applications for awards of fees and other expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act, and certain representation petitions. For documents where tolling applies, the terms are that for each day on which the Agency’s offices were closed for all or any portion of the day, one day is added to the time for filing or service of the document. If the new due date falls on a weekend or holiday, the new due date will be moved to the next business day. For example, if the original due date was October 7, 2025 and the shutdown lasted 43 days, the revised due date is November 19, 2025. See chart for revised due dates.

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About NLRB

About NLRB

The NLRB Process

The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency vested with the power to safeguard employees' rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative. The chart below details steps in the unfair labor practice process. The second chart outlines the steps in the representation election process.

Process for Unfair Labor Practices

Chart for Unfair Labor Practice process

 

Representation Election Process

The National Labor Relations Act grants employees the right to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing and to refrain from such activity. A party may file an RC, RD or RM petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to conduct a secret ballot election to determine whether a representative will represent, or continue to represent, a unit of employees. An RC petition is generally filed by a union that desires to be certified as the bargaining representative. An RD petition is filed by employees who seek to remove the currently recognized union as the bargaining representative. An RM petition is filed by an employer who seeks an election because one or more individuals or unions have sought recognition as the bargaining representative, or based on a reasonable belief supported by objective considerations that the currently recognized union has lost its majority status. The diagram below generally describes representation case procedures in RC, RD and RM cases, also referred to as certification and decertification cases.