Federal Court Permanently Enjoins New York State’s Effort To Replace The NLRB

On July 20, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Eastern District) issued a permanent injunction barring New York State from enforcing a legislative amendment which greatly expanded the New York State Public Employment Relations Board’s (PERB) jurisdiction over private-sector labor relations matters in New York. Previously, the Court had issued a preliminary injunction upon concluding that federal law gives the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) exclusive jurisdiction over these labor relations issues, thereby preempting the State’s law. The Court has now gone further, granting summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Amazon.com Services, LLC (Amazon) and declaring the new law unconstitutional.

In 2025 the New York State Legislature amended Section 715 of the New York Labor Law, governing the applicability of the NY State Employment Relations Act (SERA). This amendment (the SERA Amendment) expanded PERB’s authority to handle private-sector labor disputes that traditionally were within the jurisdiction of the NLRB under the National Labor Relations Act (the NLRA), unless the NLRB had “successfully asserted” jurisdiction over the employer.

The SERA Amendment was quickly challenged in federal court both by Amazon, which was facing a complaint under the new law, and by the NLRB in a separate action in the Northern District of New York (Northern District). In the Amazon case, the Eastern District has now permanently enjoined enforcement of the SERA Amendment.

In granting the permanent injunction, the federal court reaffirmed that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution establishes federal law as the supreme Law of the Land and that conflicting state laws must yield to federal law. The Court concluded that the SERA Amendment falls squarely within the NLRA’s preemptive reach, as previously articulated by longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

The Eastern District rejected arguments advanced by New York State and the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) that the changing circumstances at the NLRB warranted the application or creation of new exceptions to Supreme Court precedent. The Court emphasized that it was bound by existing Supreme Court precedent and could not create new exceptions to it. The Court further explained that concerns regarding the NLRB's effectiveness are matters more appropriately addressed by Congress than the courts and likewise rejected the argument that the SERA Amendment should remain enforceable when the NLRB is unable to function effectively. Moreover, the Court reiterated that where the same controversy may be presented either to a state labor agency or the NLRB, it must be presented to the NLRB.

The Court further found that permanent injunctive relief was warranted because Amazon suffered an irreparable injury, monetary damages were inadequate to remedy that injury, and the balance of the equities and public interest favored relief. In reaching this conclusion, the Court noted that New York’s interest in administering SERA without federal interference is diminished where those laws likely infringe upon federal constitutional rights, and that the public interest is served by correcting the constitutional harm.

The Court also noted that the NLRB regained a quorum less than one month after the preliminary injunction was issued, thus restoring the Board’s ability to function and undermining the defendant’s argument that the inoperability of the NLRB required expanded state jurisdiction.

Accordingly, the Court granted summary judgment in Amazon’s favor, declared the SERA Amendment unconstitutional, and permanently enjoined its enforcement. The Court then dismissed the remaining claims as unnecessary in light of that relief. Shortly thereafter, the NLRB and New York State stipulated to the dismissal of their parallel litigation in the Northern District.

This permanent injunction has no impact on employers already subject to PERB’s established jurisdiction, including public-sector employers and those private-sector employers which are not within the NLRB’s jurisdiction.

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