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The National Labor Relations Board is currently in shutdown/furlough due to a lapse in appropriations. NLRB headquarters and all field offices are closed. This website remains available to the public but is not actively maintained during the shutdown. Accordingly, the E-Filing applications (E-Filing, Online Charge and Petition, and My Account Portal) remain available. Documents E-filed during the shutdown will be processed once normal operations resume.
Please note that due dates to file or serve most documents continue to be tolled during the period of the shutdown. However, the due dates for filing unfair labor practice charges and certain representation petitions cannot be tolled. Click here for more information.
After a Regional Director issues a complaint in an unfair labor practice case, an NLRB Administrative Law Judge hears
the case and issues a decision and recommended order, which can then be appealed to the Board in Washington. If no
exceptions are filed, the judge's order becomes the order of the Board. An administrative law judge's decision is not
binding legal precedent in other cases unless it has been adopted by the Board on review of exceptions; these judges
function much like trial court judges hearing a case without a jury. Such hearings are conducted at the locality where
the unfair labor practice allegedly occurred. On occasion, administrative law judges also issue decisions in
non-complaint, post-election representation cases that may be appealed to the Board.
