U.S. National Labor Relations Board makes it easier for Unions to Organize Workplaces with Contingent Workers

In a departure from more than a decade-long precedent, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board has held that Board-conducted representation elections in bargaining units combining employees who are (a) jointly employed by a user employer and supplier employer and (b) solely employed by the user employer do not require the consent of either employer. Instead, the Board held that such bargaining units would be appropriate without consent as long as the jointly employed employees shared a “community of interest” with the employees who were employed solely by the user employer. By permitting employees in the user/supplier context to seek an NLRB election in their bargaining unit without the consent of their employers, the Board has made it easier for unions to organize workplaces that employ a significant number of contingent workers.