Washington, DC (March 29, 2018) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is formally requesting the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) review apparent wrongdoing by the Inspector General of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regarding an investigation that led to an abrupt move by the NLRB to undo a recent decision.

The National Right to Work Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization that provides free legal aid to employees nationwide. With more than eighty ongoing NLRB cases in which Foundation staff attorneys represent workers, the Foundation seeks to ensure that the Board’s recusal standards are being properly and consistently enforced and that privileged communications from NLRB deliberations are not selectively leaked.

On February 9, NLRB Inspector General David Berry issued a report concerning whether NLRB Member William Emanuel should have been recused in Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors. Citing this report, the other three siting NLRB Members voted on February 27 to vacate the December decision in Hy-Brand, which had overruled a controversial, precedent-shattering decision by Barack Obama’s NLRB.

Inspector General Berry’s February 9 report, and a follow-up report dated March 20, were both made public without redactions of the NLRB’s internal deliberative communications. In 2012, then-NLRB Member Terence Flynn resigned after Inspector General Berry issued a report that said that Flynn had improperly shared information regarding the Board’s deliberative process.

The Foundation is asking the CIGIE to investigate whether Inspector General Berry himself disseminated confidential NLRB deliberations and improperly disclosed to people outside the NLRB that he was investigating Member Emanuel.

“Victims of compulsory unionism abuses should not be victimized yet again by rogue bureaucrats at the NLRB,” said National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Whether regarding recusals or the disclosure of internal Board deliberations, Inspector General Berry appears to apply different standards to different people.”

“Despite his tenuous findings regarding recusals for Member Emanuel, just a few years ago Berry gave the green light to Obama appointee and former Service Employees International Union lawyer Craig Becker to participate in cases involving the SEIU and its affiliates,” continued Mix. “Now both Berry and NLRB Member Pearce appear to have publicly disclosed information regarding the Board’s internal deliberative process, even though Berry’s own report in 2012 condemned former Member Flynn for doing the same thing.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.