Position Description
August 24, 2024
PD_NLRB_Board-Member
Position Description
board member, national labor relations board
Overview
Senate Committee
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Agency Mission
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent federal agency that protects the rights of private-sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve their wages and working conditions.1 https://www.nlrb.gov/who-we-are
Position Overview
The board has five members and primarily acts as a quasi-judicial body to decide cases, based on formal records in administrative proceedings.2 Board members serve staggered five-year terms and are responsible for adjudicating unfair labor practice charges and determining union representation questions.3 https://www.nlrb.gov/who-we-are OPM
Compensation
Level IV $155,500 (5 U.S.C. § 5315)4 The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (Public Law 115-31, May 5, 2017), contains a provision that continues the freeze on the payable pay rates for certain senior political officials at 2013 levels during calendar year 2017.
Position Reports to
Any member of the board may be removed by the president, upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause. (29 U.S.C. § 153)
Responsibilities
Management Scope
In fiscal 2015, the NLRB had $271 million in budget outlays and 1,587 employees.5 Each board member has about 17 lawyers in their personal staff. Leadership Directories: https://lo.bvdep.com/OrgDocument.asp?OrgId=-1&LDIBookId=19&LDIOrgId=155352&LDISecId=201&FromRecent=0&Save=1&Position=-1#O155352
Primary Responsibilities
® Serves as an appellate court in deciding whether or not to uphold the decisions of administrative law judges; cases are brought to the board by the NLRB general counsel, who oversees the prosecution of cases before administrative law judges
® Decides whether employees should be represented by a union when the results from an employee election to form a union are either disputed or inconclusive (for example, a dispute over whether 50 percent plus one of employees want a union)
® Note: The president designates a board member to serve as chairman (29 U.S.C. § 153)
Strategic Goals and Priorities
® To expeditiously and fairly decide cases
Requirements and Competencies
Requirements
® Board requirements:
® Since the board become a five-member board in 1947, it has consisted of three members of the president’s political party and two members of the other major political party
® Board members cannot continue to serve beyond their five-year term until replaced, but members can be reappointed
® Candidate requirements:
® Knowledge and experience with labor law
® Ability to act in a judicious capacity as an appellate judge
® Law degree (extremely common)
Competencies
® High level of integrity
® Ability to function in a nonpartisan fashion
® Neutral and unbiased
® Strong sense of professional ethics
® Ability to relate well with fellow board members and work collaboratively
Past Appointees
Lauren McGarity McFerran (2014 to 2017): Deputy Staff Director/Chief Labor Counsel, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Labor and Pensions Policy Director, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Senior Counsel, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions6 Leadership Directories: https://lo.bvdep.com/PeopleDocument.asp?Perso
Id=-1&LDIPeopleId=638268&Save=1
Nancy Jean Schiffer (2013 to 2017): Associate General Counsel, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations; Associate General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel with the United Auto Workers; Associate General Counsel, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations7 https://www.nlrb.gov/who-we-are/board/nancy-j-schiffer
Mark Gaston Pearce (2010 to 2017): Member, Industrial Board of Appeals, Department of Labor, State of New York; Founding Partner, Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux; Attorney and District Trial Specialist, Region 3 u2013 Buffalo, New York, Offices of the Board, National Labor Relations Board8 Leadership Directories: https://lo.bvdep.com/PeopleDocument.asp?Perso
Id=-1&LDIPeopleId=891608&Save=1
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