On Dec. 7, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced a new strategic plan for its fiscal years 2019-2022. According to the agency’s press release: “The Strategic Plan contains four mission-related goals to support the vision of NLRB Chairman John Ring and General Counsel Peter Robb. These four mission-related goals include: (1) achieving a collective 20% increase (5% over each of four years) in timeliness in case processing of unfair labor practice charges, (2) achieving resolution of a greater number of representation cases within 100 days of the filing of an election petition, (3) achieving organizational excellence and productivity, and (4) managing agency resources efficiently and in a manner that instills public trust.”
The plan itself goes into extensive detail on each of the four goals. NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb also issued a memo outlining his goals for regional directors to shorten charge processing times. As further explained by the press release: “To achieve these stated goals, the Strategic Plan calls for an annual, Agency-wide 5% reduction in case processing time for unfair labor practice charges. This reduction includes not only case handling in the regional offices, but also the time between issuance of an Administrative Law Judge’s decision and a Board Order, and issuance of a Board Order and closure of a case. Over the years, the amount of time it takes for cases to be processed and for resolutions to be reached has increased and backlogs of cases have developed. This initiative has been developed to reverse these trends.”
This plan follows prior announcements by the board regarding potential organizational changes at the agency. Stay tuned to see how these developments continue to unfold.
