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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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The NLRB Reduces the Median Age of Pending Cases by 15% in Fiscal Year 2021

Office of Public Affairs

202-273-1991

publicinfo@nlrb.gov

www.nlrb.gov

October 13, 2021

The National Labor Relations Board reduced the median age of cases pending before the Board at the end of fiscal year (FY) 2021 by 15% from FY 2020, 54% from FY 2019, and 69% since FY 2018. The median age of pending cases at the end of FY 2021 was 72 days, compared with 85 days at the end of FY 2020, 157 days at the end of FY 2019, and 233 days at the end of FY 2018.

“It is always our goal at the Board to produce quality decisions as efficiently as possible.  Timely decision-making by the Board serves many important goals of the Act—allowing workers who choose representation to more quickly obtain the benefits of collective bargaining, and providing more effective remedies to victims of unfair labor practices,” said Chairman Lauren McFerran. “In recent years we have made great strides in reducing our case processing time, and we continued to make significant progress in fiscal year 2021.  I applaud all the Board’s staff for their hard work this past year, and for their continued dedication to this important part of our mission.”

The Board issued 243 decisions in contested cases in FY 2021, including 136 decisions in unfair labor practice cases and 107 decisions in union representation cases. In addition, the Board issued over 170 rulings, orders, or notices in FY 2021 on a variety of other matters, including requests for special permission to appeal and various motions and petitions.

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.