Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, NLRB NEWS—Backlog exacerbated by government shutdown necessitates change in charge processing, assignment, (Jan 8, 2026)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

The NLRB will require submission of evidence by the charging party prior to a case’s assignment to an agent.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) modified the procedure for processing and assigning all charges filed after October 1, 2025, due to the exacerbated backlog caused by the large influx of cases filed during the 43-day government shutdown of 2025, according to a memo from the Office of the General Counsel (GC) late last month. It contends that the new procedures will provide relief to regional office employees and allow the NLRB to efficiently and effectively process cases, the memo states.

Evidence submission. Within two weeks of the filing of the charge, the charging party will be required to e-file: (1) a chronological outline or timeline of the relevant sequence of events and exchanges (both verbal and in-person communications) related to the charge allegations, including the names and titles of any involved union and/or employer representatives; (2) relevant documentation related to the allegations in the charge, as well as supporting communications and documents such as letters, emails, text messages, phone records, etc.; and (3) a list of the witnesses the charging party intends to present, their contact information (email and phone), and a brief summary of each witness’s testimony.

The docketing letter will be sent as an attachment to an email to the charging party to ensure the charging party has sufficient time to respond. The docketing letter will include the email address of a newly created shared regional email box and the telephone number of an agency employee who can answer any questions the charging party may have about the initial submission of evidence. Failure to provide the requested evidence or otherwise respond to the docketing letter may result in dismissal of the charge for lack of cooperation, the memo states.

Assignment to board agent. All charges—other than statutory priority charges or charges that are related to existing cases—will not initially be assigned to a board agent but instead placed on a list monitored by agency staff until the required evidence is submitted. Once the evidence is submitted and evaluated, the region will determine whether to assign the charge or dismiss it. If the case needs to be assigned to a board agent for investigation, the charge will not be assigned until a board agent with sufficient capacity to timely investigate is available; until then, the charge will remain on the unassigned case list.

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