NLRB general counsel seeks employer-friendly shift in Board precedent

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) precedent often shifts with its membership. With a majority now appointed by President Donald Trump, the Board may reconsider several Biden-era decisions, potentially giving employers greater flexibility in workplace policies, employment agreements, and union organizing responses.

New priorities

In an August 26, 2026, memorandum, Trump-appointed NLRB General Counsel (GC) Crystal S. Carey identified precedents she has asked—or intends to ask—the Board to overturn. Here are some key areas.

Severance agreements (and other employment agreements). In its 2023 decision in McLaren Macomb, the Board held that offering severance agreements with broad nondisparagement and confidentiality provisions that restrict nonsupervisory employees’ National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) rights violates the Act. GC Carey has asked the Board to overrule that decision in a pending case.

Work rules. In its 2023 decision in Stericycle, the Board held that work rules with a reasonable tendency to chill employees’ exercise of NLRA rights are presumptively unlawful. That standard replaced the framework in its 2017 decision in Boeing, which categorized rules as lawful, requiring individual scrutiny, or unlawful. GC Carey has asked the Board to overrule Stericycle in a pending case.