Dinsmore & Shohl’s Mark A. Carter, a leading attorney on labor law, testified before a United States Senate Committee on February 11, 2015. Carter was invited as the designee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce regarding a National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) regulation that will soon be in effect.
Carter appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension to discuss the NLRB “Ambush Election” regulation. The rule, scheduled to take effect on April 14, 2015, will overhaul the election process through which labor unions are certified by the NLRB to represent workers. The regulation dramatically shortens the period of time that elections can be scheduled, taking it from an average of 38 days to as little as 10 days. Carter’s testimony demonstrated that is not a realistic timeframe for a typical employer to provide a response that is compliant to the NLRB.
“Employees, seemingly by design, are likely to receive only one candidate’s perspective in an organizing campaign instead of the full and robust debate of the issues anticipated by Congress in creating the Act. They will be compelled to make this profoundly important decision on the basis of “half” of the facts in direct contravention to the purposes and policies behind the law…The “level playing field” that Congress has sought to preserve in the area of labor relations will be abandoned in a plain effort to provide labor unions with the upper hand, and this imbalance will be the work product of a regulatory agency without any involvement by Congress itself,” Carter said in his testimony. Click here to view the Full Committee Hearing – Ambushed: How the NLRB’s New Election Rule Harms Employers & Employees.
This is the second time Carter has testified on the Hill. In 2012, Carter testified before Congress to discuss President Obama’s recess appointments and how they will affect the National Labor Relations Board and labor law in general. The US Supreme Court later concluded that those appointments were unconstitutional.
“Representing the U.S. Chamber before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension was very fulfilling,” said Carter. “This was a significant entrustment by the Chamber to present the case of its members and explain the heavy burden the Ambush Election timeframe places on the employers seeking to comply with the new regulation and the employees it impacts.”
Carter is the Chair of the Labor Department at Dinsmore and has a national practice. He advises clients on all aspects of traditional labor and employment law focused upon managing corporate campaigns, litigation and collective bargaining negotiations. He has extensive experience in litigating before the federal trial and appellate courts, the National Labor Relations Board, arbitrations, and in collective bargaining. Mark has also litigated numerous damage actions involving strike misconduct under the RICO Act and other federal labor laws in Alaska, Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, Washington D.C., and other states.
Along with publishing articles and sections of books regarding labor law and litigation, Carter is a member of Today’s General Counsel’s Editorial Advisory Board. He has also appeared on Fox News and C-Span.
