The NLRB rules that solicitation of mail ballots is objectionable conduct in a board election

Over the years, the National Labor Relations Board has devised a set of rules in its case law to protect the integrity of secret ballot elections. In Professional Transportation, Inc. 370 NLRB No. 132 (2021), the Board added another rule, unanimously holding that the solicitation of mail ballots constitutes objectionable conduct in a Board election. Previously, the Board had held that a party engages in objectionable conduct if it collects or otherwise handles mail ballots.

Here, a union representative left a voicemail for an employee in which he allegedly said: “if you need help on [sic] getting [the ballot] sent back one way or the other, I can help you with that.” The Board held that this offer to collect an employee’s mail ballot—which it described as “solicitation”—was equally objectionable and could upend the result of an election.

With mail ballot elections on the rise, the Board’s decision is of great importance to employers.