Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, ON THE LABOR FRONT—New York law may upset out national labor policy, (Sep 30, 2025)

By Michael J. Soltis

The purported rationale for New York’s power grab of NLRB jurisdiction is that the NLRB is ineffective due to a lack of a quorum.

In a one-paragraph amendment to its labor laws, the State of New York recently usurped the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by giving private sector employees a state law alternative to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The law is already having an impact. Ten days after the law took effect, on September 15, 2025, the Amazon Workers Union, which represents employees at the employer’s JFK Fulfillment Center, filed an unfair labor practice charge against Amazon with the New York Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) alleging that Amazon terminated an employee because of his union activity.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently sued New York seeking to void the New York amendment. The NLRB’s General Counsel alleged that it is preempted by the NLRA under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

For a discussion of the NLRB’s challenge to the New York amendment, see Mike Soltis’ latest On the Labor Front article: New York Law May Upset Our National Labor Policy.

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