On June 14, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in South Carolina Chamber of Commerce v. NLRB,  No. 12-1757 (4^th Cir. 2013) became the second federal Court of Appeals to reject the NLRB’s notice posting rule.  On May 7, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had also invalidated the NLRB’s notice posting rule in National Association of Manufacturers et al. v. National Labor Relations Board, et al., Civil No. 12-5068, 12-5138 (D.C. Cir. 2013).

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals stated, in part:

“We agree with the district court that the rulemaking function provided for in the NLRA, by its express terms, only empowers the Board to carry out its statutorily defined reactive roles in addressing unfair labor practice charges and conducting representation elections upon request. Indeed, there is no function or responsibility of the Board not predicated upon the filing of an unfair labor practice charge or a representation petition. We further note that Congress, despite having enacted and amended the NLRA at the same time it was enabling sister agencies to promulgate notice requirements, never granted the Board the statutory authority to do so. We therefore hold that the Board exceeded its authority in promulgating the challenged rule, and affirm.”