Employment Law Report

Third Circuit Court of Appeals Invalidates Recess Appointment to the NLRB

By Edwin S. Hopson

On May 16, 2013, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in a 2 – 1 decision) in National Labor Relations Board v. New Vista Nursing and Rehabilitation, Nos. 11-3440, 12-1027, and 12-1936 (3rd Cir. 2013), decided that the orders issued by the NLRB in this case could not be enforced because former NLRB Member Craig Becker’s recess appointment in March 2010 was invalid.  This is the second federal court of appeals to rule that a recess appointment to the NLRB by President Obama was invalid—the first being the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Noel Canning v. NLRB, as to which the NLRB has petitioned the U.S. Supreme for review.