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The NLRB reopened from shutdown status on November 13, 2025. Due dates to file or serve most documents were tolled during the period of the shutdown, although due dates cannot be tolled for filing and service of unfair labor practice charges, applications for awards of fees and other expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act, and certain representation petitions. For documents where tolling applies, the terms are that for each day on which the Agency’s offices were closed for all or any portion of the day, one day is added to the time for filing or service of the document. If the new due date falls on a weekend or holiday, the new due date will be moved to the next business day. For example, if the original due date was October 7, 2025 and the shutdown lasted 43 days, the revised due date is November 19, 2025. See chart for revised due dates.

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NLRB General Counsel Issues Updated Representation Case Guidance

Office of Public Affairs

202-273-1991

publicinfo@nlrb.gov

www.nlrb.gov

January 17, 2025

Today, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued updated guidance on representation cases, including an updated version of the Office of the General Counsel’s Outline of Law and Procedure in Representation Cases (“Outline”), the Casehandling Manual Part Two on Representation Proceedings, and an Operations-Management Memorandum.   

The Outline is a guidance document detailing developments in Board election and representation law and serves as a research tool.  Originally issued in the early 1960s, the last major revision to the Outline was in 2017, and the NLRB has issued updated supplements for each subsequent year. The 2025 revision includes developments related to: jurisdiction, unit clarification petitions, and unit-determination and community-of-interest principles, among others. The Outline also reflects recent rulemaking by the Board. The 2025 Outline was edited by Terence G. Schoone-Jongen, Director of the Board’s Office of Representation Appeals. The Outline and other resources can be found under “Manuals and Guides” on the NLRB’s website.

General Counsel Abruzzo also issued an OM Memorandum to all Field Offices related to updating the Casehandling Manual Part Two and summarizing Agency procedures regarding mail ballot elections. The memo also clarifies processes regarding RM petitions, and incorporates the changes resulting from the Board’s Fair Choice-Employee Voice Rule.

“I have no doubt that the Outline will prove to be an invaluable resource for labor law practitioners, workers and their representatives, employers, academics/legal researchers and other members of the public,” said General Counsel Abruzzo. “Overall, these resources will assist greatly in effectuating our important mission of protecting workers’ rights to engage together and collectively bargain through representatives of their free choosing.”

Established in 1935, the National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency that protects employees from unfair labor practices and protects the right of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve wages, benefits and working conditions. The NLRB conducts hundreds of workplace elections and investigates thousands of unfair labor practice charges each year.