Press Coverage November 6, 2026

As NLRB Trumpets Progress on Backlog, Staff Strain Persists

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Lauren M. Emery

Lauren Emery, a partner in Troutman Pepper Locke’s Labor and Employment Practice Group, was quoted in the November 6, 2026, Law360 article, “As NLRB Trumpets Progress on Backlog, Staff Strain Persists.”

  • The board gained a third Republican member with the August confirmation of James Macy, setting it up to reverse Biden-era precedents. But the new member does not seem to have changed how the board has approached issuing decisions, said Lauren Emery, a partner at Troutman Pepper Locke who represents employers.
  • The current NLRB has shown an apparent willingness to send cases out the door when they’re ready instead of holding on to some as vehicles for changing the law as past boards have done, Emery said. Previous boards also might hold back a decision that implicates a particular legal issue on which they will soon reverse precedent and then issue it after the legal change, but Emery said the current board appears to just focus on deciding cases more quickly.
  • “I think with previous boards I’ve seen more of a pause, or they’re a little bit slower at first because they are prioritizing some of the decisions and cases where they might change or reverse precedent,” said Emery, who served as senior staff counsel at the board from 2015-2018. “But this board seems to be more focused on case processing as they come.”
  • …
  • Regions have also been more open to settlements under Carey, Emery said, most notably by lowering remedy demands in negotiations below the full amount that prosecutors would pursue in a complaint.
  • “There’s definitely been some more flexibility in settlements, and we’ve had better success recently reaching settlements with the region.” Emery said.
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