U.S. Supreme Court Raises Standard for Labor Board When Seeking 10(j) Injunctions
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision directing district courts to use the traditional four-part test when evaluating whether a preliminary injunction should issue at the request of the National Labor Relations Board pending litigation of a complaint under the National Labor Relations Act. No. 23-367 (June 13, 2024). The decision settles the split among the federal circuit courts over the standard that should be applied when the Board files a motion for a “10(j)” injunction, named for the section of the Act that authorizes the Board to seek injunctive relief. Circuit courts were split on which test should apply: the traditional four-part test, a more lenient two-part test, or a hybrid of the two. The Court’s decision raises the bar for the Board, requiring it to meet each prong of the four-part test for a court to grant an injunction . In particular, it will be more difficult for the Board to establish it is “likely to succeed on the merits,” as opposed to the more leni...