How the NLRB's Light Still Shines on Anti-Discrimination Law Fifty Years After Title VII

Abstract

As the passage of Title VII approaches its fiftieth anniversary, this Article explores what may be thought of as the unlikely impact of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) on anti-discrimination law principles used to protect employees. How an agency charged with enforcing labor law protections under the National Labor Relations Act has affected anti-discrimination principles for employee protection under Title VII may not represent an obvious correlation, especially with the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

This Article asserts that after almost eighty years of existence, the NLRB continues to play a major role in addressing discrimination in the workplace as a supplement to an employee's discrimination claims filed under Title VII with the EEOC and in the courts. This Article highlights the necessary role offered by the NLRB in offering workplace protections during such tenuous economic times. NLRB actions that protect concerted activity have helped employees, especially in non-union settings, to protect themselves from discrimination matters. Given the difficulties plaintiffs have experienced in pursuing employment discrimination claims within the court system, the NLRB's enforcement actions help supplement Title VII's enforcement objectives.

Finally, this Article discusses various NLRB decisions that demonstrate the NLRB's important role in helping employees eradicate employment discrimination in the workplace even fifty years after the creation of the EEOC by Title VII. As a result, any efforts to shut down or emasculate the NLRB's powers must be attacked and prevented to allow the NLRB to keep supplementing workplace protections for employees with Title VII claims in these tough times.

Keywords: NLRB, NLRA, EEOC, discrimination, agency, recess appointment

JEL Classification: J00, J51, J52, J53, J58, J70, J71, K23, K31, K42