A plaintiff in a lawsuit against the National Labor Relations Board over its joint employer rule is calling a recent court ruling a “significant procedural win.”
The National Association of Convenience Stores said Tuesday that the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s June 5 stay of a lawsuit brought by Service Employees International Union, which NACS said was filed as a counter suit to one that NACS is a part of, “could be seen as an indication that the DC Circuit doesn’t put much stock in the SEIU’s argument that all such challenges should be restricted to the DC Circuit.”
NACS is part of a coalition led by the US Chamber of Commerce that brought a lawsuit in late 2023 in federal court in Texas against the NLRB over the joint employer rule.
The NLRB proposed the rule to change the standard used to determine joint-employer status under a 2020 version of the rule, promulgated under the previous board, that some viewed as being more favorable to employers.
“The Texas court struck down the NLRB rule, but the SEIU in its case argued that any challenges to federal regulations should be brought in the DC Circuit rather than various district courts. The coalition, which won in Texas, also filed a motion to dismiss the DC Circuit case after the Texas court acted,” NACS said. “The NLRB filed a motion to appeal the Texas court’s decision in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. That provided an opening for NACS and other litigants to seek to put the DC Circuit Court case on hold pending the outcome in the 5th Circuit. The DC Circuit granted that request.”
For now, the decision by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas invalidating the rule remains in effect pending the results of an appeal.
