Republicans Gain 3-1 Majority On National Labor Relations Board

On Friday August, 7, 2026, the U.S. Senate confirmed two nominees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This change brings the number of NLRB members to four, up one from the three-member total it has had since December 2025. The newly confirmed members are Republican James Macy and Democrat David Prouty. Prouty was already a member of the Board and was nominated for a second term.

The timing of these confirmations was crucial to keep the Board’s three-member quorum, because Prouty’s term was set to expire this month. In addition to maintaining the three-member quorum, the recent confirmations are important because they change the composition of the Board to a 3-1 Republican majority. This new majority will permit the Board to overturn precedent, something that was very unlikely under the prior three-member Board, which included Democrat Prouty.

With the confirmations, the current members of the Board are:

• Chairman James R. Murphy, a Republican, designated as Chairman on March 26, 2026 by President Trump. His term expires on December 16, 2027.
• Scott A. Mayer, a Republican and former Chief Labor Counsel of The Boeing Company, who was sworn in in January 2026. His term expires on December 16, 2029
• David Prouty, a Democrat who was nominated by President Biden in 2021. Prouty’s term was set to expire in August 2026, but he has now been newly confirmed and will begin a second term. 
• James Macy, a Republican and former Department of Labor Official. 

The normally five-member board has one position that remains open after Friday’s confirmations. The President may seek to fill the open spot but has not yet done so. 

The key take away for employers is that with its new 3-1 Republican majority, the Board is expected to seek to overturn employee-friendly standards from the previous democratic-majority Board — returning to more employer-friendly holdings. Some Board precedents widely expected to come under fire include the following:

• Cemex — which, among other onerous requirements, can lead to bargaining orders against an employer where an employer is found to commit any unfair labor practice that would disqualify an election;
• Amazon.com Services, LLC —banning captive audience meetings;
• Stericycle, Inc. — which imposed a very employee friendly standard regarding workplace rules and handbooks, under which even facially neutral policies could be found improper if an employee could interpret the rule as having a chilling effect on their rights under the NLRA
• McLaren Macomb — narrowing employers’ ability to include standard confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements.

The newly comprised Republican majority Board is expected to revert on these and other issues to either a prior employer-friendly standard or an entirely new employer-friendly standard.

Even prior to the Macy and Prouty confirmations, the Board already voiced a more employer-friendly position with the issuance of Guidance by the General Counsel. This guidance instructs the regional offices to prioritize settlement of cases and narrow the scope of document requests to employers. It further calls for deemphasis on cases based on an employer’s alleged unlawful rules and policies without an accompanying adverse employment action. In other words, claims that a particular policy or portion of a handbook violates the NLRA will no longer be enough. Unless actual harm is present, the memo instructs the regions to settle the claim. This standard is a clear signal that the General Counsel prefers reversion to a more employer-friendly standard than Stericycle as referenced above.

Because precedent changes are sure to come following Friday’s confirmations, employers should pay close attention to NLRB decisions now that the NLRB has a 3 Republican member majority.

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