Published
September 03, 2026
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) entered a new phase this summer with the recent swearing-in of two Board members, giving Republicans a 3-1 majority and positioning the agency to revisit many of the Biden Board’s most consequential labor law decisions.
On August 7, the U.S. Senate confirmed Republican James Macy and Democrat incumbent David Prouty to new terms on the Board. The confirmations were approved as part of a broader package of nominations and ensured that the NLRB would maintain a functioning quorum.
Macy was sworn in on August 17 for a term expiring August 27, 2030. Prouty was sworn in for his second term on August 25 with that term commencing August 28 and running through August 27, 2031.
Although Republicans have nominally controlled the Board since the confirmations of Chairman James Murphy and Member Scott Mayer in late 2025, the addition of Macy is particularly important. Traditionally, the Board has been reluctant to overturn precedent without at least three affirmative votes. The new composition now provides the Republican members with the votes necessary to revisit and potentially reverse existing precedent.
The reconstituted Board also arrives at a time when the agency continues to work through a significant backlog of cases. That backlog developed in part because the Board lacked a quorum for much of 2025, preventing it from issuing decisions and allowing appeals and representation matters to accumulate. In addition, the Biden Board produced a substantial number of high-profile decisions that generated extensive litigation and requests for Board review.
A full Board is expected to accelerate decision-making and reduce the inventory of pending cases. At the same time, employers should expect the Board to use those cases as vehicles for policy change.
Among the Biden-era precedents most frequently identified as candidates for reconsideration are Cemex, which expanded bargaining obligations in certain organizing campaigns; Stericycle, which adopted a more employee-friendly framework for evaluating workplace rules; McLaren Macomb, which restricted confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions in severance agreements; Lion Elastomers, concerning employee misconduct during protected activity; and decisions affecting bargaining-unit determinations and election procedures.
For employers, the key takeaway is that change is now possible, but not guaranteed. With a three-member Republican majority, the Board has both the votes and opportunity to reshape federal labor law through adjudication. The pace of that transformation will largely depend on the cases that reach the Board’s docket over the coming months, but the era of Biden Board policymaking is increasingly likely to give way to a more balanced and common-sense approach.
About the author
Sean P. Redmond
Sean P. Redmond is Vice President, Labor Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
