Court: 2-Person Labor Board Can't Make Decisions

More than 500 decisions by the leading federal agency that referees disputes between labor and management will have to be reopened after the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the five-member board had operated illegally when its membership dwindled to two.

The high court, in a 5-4 ruling in which the court's leading liberal — retiring Justice John Paul Stevens — sided with the court's four most conservative members, said the law does not allow the National Labor Relations Board to operate while it is short-staffed because of political arguments.

"If Congress had intended to authorize two members alone to act for the Board on an ongoing basis, it could have said so in straightforward language," Stevens said. "Congress instead imposed the requirement that the Board delegate authority to no fewer than three members, and that it have three participating members to constitute a quorum."

Click to expand...

chevydriver1123 said:

Who in their right mind would think it was a good idea to run this department severely understaffed?

Click to expand...

chevydriver1123 said:

Who in their right mind would think it was a good idea to run this department severely understaffed?

Click to expand...