For nearly a year, the National Labor Relations Board has lacked a quorum of at least three confirmed members, and thus it has been unable to decide cases arising under the National Labor Relations Act, including unfair labor practice disputes and contested union representation cases. That ended on January 7, 2026, when two President Trump nominees – James Murphy and Scott Mayer – were sworn in as NLRB members following their recent Senate confirmation. Members Murphy and Mayer join Member David Prouty, a President Biden appointee who was the sole NLRB member for the past six months. Member Murphy’s term runs through December 2027; Member Mayer’s term runs through December 2029. Although one of new Members will be designated Chairman of the NLRB, no announcement on that designation has yet been made.

Member Murphy joins the Board after a lengthy career, much of which has been with the NLRB, including, most recently, as Chief Counsel to former NLRB Chairman Marvin Kaplan. Member Mayer joins the Board from his most recent position as Chief Labor Counsel for a major aerospace and defense corporation. Although it will take time for ideal test cases to ripen for Board review, the reconstituted, majority Republican-appointed NLRB is likely to review aggressively pro-union, pro-employee decisions issued by the Board under the prior administration, such as Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC, which radically altered the process by which unions could win representation rights; Stericycle, LLC, which relaxed the standard for finding employer work rules and policies unlawful under the NLRA; Lion Elastomers, LLC, which made it significantly more difficult for employers to discipline employees for engaging in misconduct coincident with NLRA protected concerted activity; American Steel Construction, Inc., which restored the practice of allowing unions to organize “micro-units”; and Thryv, Inc., which expanded the range of remedies the Board can impose for unfair labor practices.

The NLRB also has a new General Counsel, Crystal Carey. GC Carey replaces former NLRB GC Jennifer Abruzzo, whom the President terminated in early 2025. Like Member Murphy, GC Carey has worked at the NLRB in various roles and was most recently a partner at a large management-side law firm. GC Carey is expected to prosecute cases that will allow the new NLRB to reconsider the cases discussed above and to steer the agency in a more employer-friendly direction. Based on her predecessors’ practice, we also can expect the newly appointed GC to issue memoranda rescinding prior GC guidance that does not align with her strategic vision, including by identifying the NLRB precedents she plans to address and announcing adjustments to case-handling processes and other internal agency procedures. If and when she does so, we’ll update the blog, as well as continue to report on developments as the new NLRB begins its work.