Union Elections and Employer Considerations During Social Distancing

Despite the current pandemic, on April 3, the National Labor Relations Board announced that it was resuming union elections effective April 6. The announcement notes that during the current pandemic, the Regional Directors have discretion to decide “how” to conduct union elections in a safe and effective manner. While no particular procedure has been mandated, to date, a number of regions have announced that they are conducting mail ballot elections only, presumably believing a manual election is infeasible given social distancing protocols.