On December 16, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a D.C. Circuit opinion in Hosp. Menonita de Guayama, Inc. v. Nat'l Lab. Rels. Bd., 94 F.4th 1 (D.C. Cir. 2024) that upheld a decision by the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB" or "Board") on the successor-bar doctrine, which precludes a new employer from withdrawing recognition from an incumbent union for at least six months after that employer assumes control from its predecessor. In remanding the case to the D.C. Circuit, the Supreme Court stressed it was doing so "for further consideration in light of" its recent landmark decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 144 S. Ct. 2244 (2024).
As we recently outlined here, Loper Bright overturned the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine, which required courts to defer to a federal administrative agency's reasonable interpretation of ambiguous statutes ' and now requires courts to apply their own construction of the law.
Critically, the Supreme Court's decision to remand the case to the D.C. Circuit ' which has jurisdiction over all appeals of NLRB decisions ' could have implications far beyond the Board's successor-bar doctrine because its Loper Bright instruction to the D.C. Circuit may foreshadow future, sweeping changes to policy under the National Labor Relations Act ("NLRA" or "Act"). Specifically, it may portend a future review of other cases ' including other Supreme Court decisions ' predating Chevron that specifically instruct courts to defer to the NLRB when interpreting the NLRA.
Background
In June 2022, a divided NLRB held that a Puerto Rico hospital violated the NLRA by withdrawing recognition from an incumbent union representing health care employees that it inherited after acquiring the hospital. The NLRB held that the hospital violated the successor-bar doctrine because over the five months after the acquisition it declined to bargain in good faith with the union, which represented five bargaining units. The hospital then withdrew recognition from the union, which filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB.
In adopting an administrative law judge's findings and conclusions, the NLRB majority held that the hospital violated the successor-bar doctrine, which holds that an incumbent union is entitled to represent the employees in collective bargaining with their new employer for a reasonable period of time, i.e., between 6 months to 1 year, without challenge to its representative status.
In doing so, the NLRB majority reasoned that this successor-bar doctrine, from a 2011...
