Follow NLRB rulings, for now

Employers should continue to follow National Labor Relations Board rulings, while awaiting a possible U.S. Supreme Court decision on the validity of appointments of three NLRB members, legal experts say.

The January ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia created considerable confusion and uncertainty for employers.

“This cloud over all of the NLRB's work is very unsettling,” said Howard L. Bernstein, a partner at Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg L.L.P. in Chicago.

“We need to have some kind of stability with this agency,” said Mark Theodore, a partner at Proskauer Rose L.L.P. in Los Angeles. The current uncertainty is not “good for anybody.''

For now, “we're telling employers to take a wait-and-see approach and operate as if the existing board decisions will stay in place,” said Peter J. Felsenfeld, an associate at Barger & Wolen L.L.P. in San Francisco.

“The key right now is for employers not to get ahead of themselves and assume the decisions they don't like will be invalidated,” Mr. Felsenfeld said.