Earlier today, President Trump appointed James Murphy as Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. While the Board has operated with a three-member quorum since January—when Murphy and new Board member Scott Mayer were sworn in—it lacked a designated chairperson until now. Murphy is a longtime and widely respected NLRB veteran who was brought out of retirement by the administration to fill one of four vacant Board seats.
Although today’s appointment is notable, employers should not expect immediate policy shifts. The NLRB Chairperson holds limited formal authority over other Board members. As a result, Murphy’s designation as Chair is unlikely, by itself, to drive significant doctrinal change. In practice, NLRB General Counsel Crystal Carey—who oversees the agency’s prosecutorial function—often exerts more day-to-day influence over enforcement priorities than the Chairperson.
The more consequential issue for employers is what happens next. At the American Bar Association’s Development of Labor Law (DLL) conference that I attended earlier this month, multiple Board representatives indicated that the current Board does not intend to overturn existing precedent without a three-member majority. With the present composition—two Republicans and one Democratic member, David Prouty—that effectively limits the likelihood of major precedent-setting decisions in controversial cases. Absent intervention by the federal courts, employers should not expect significant pro-employer doctrinal developments from the current Board.
Both the Board and General Counsel Carey have emphasized that their immediate priority is reducing the substantial case backlog that accumulated during the Board’s loss of quorum in 2025. From an operational standpoint, this means more decisions, but not necessarily new law.
The key question, then, is when a fourth Board member will be nominated and confirmed.
The administration has reportedly been searching for a candidate since at least last fall, but filling the position has proven difficult. The challenges are understandable. The Board is underfunded, faces a significant backlog, and will likely soon be operating under a Supreme Court ruling confirming that the President can remove Board members at-will. These factors make the position less attractive to experienced labor lawyers and labor relations professionals who would otherwise need to leave stable, well-compensated roles to undergo a demanding Senate confirmation process for a position with uncertain tenure.
Political realities further complicate the search. Candidates perceived as insufficiently aligned with the administration will struggle during the vetting process, while more controversial nominees may face confirmation hurdles in the Senate. The confirmation processes for Scott Mayer and General Counsel Carey illustrate these difficulties. As a result, while a fourth member could be confirmed in the coming months, that outcome appears uncertain, and in my personal opinion, unlikely.
This uncertainty becomes more significant to the labor law community when considering the timing. Member David Prouty’s term expires in August. If no replacement or additional member is confirmed before then—and if Prouty is not reappointed—the Board will again lose its quorum in less than six months. That would halt decision-making authority and likely recreate the backlog that has only recently begun to clear. Such an outcome would create continued uncertainty for employers, unions, and employees alike.
For employers, the takeaway is straightforward: the appointment of Murphy to the Chair position is nice but will not likely result in material changes. Employers should expect operational movement at the NLRB, but not major doctrinal change—at least in the near term. The Board’s composition, combined with confirmation challenges and upcoming term expirations, suggests continued institutional instability is reasonably likely.
Of course, we will continue monitoring NLRB developments closely and my partner Shay Billington and I will provide updates here as the situation evolves.
