National Labor Relations Board Files Suit to Limit Scope of State Law
Governor Kathy Hochul signed a new law that seeks to expand the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). The new statute, intended primarily as a stopgap measure, allows the board to have jurisdiction in private-sector employment disputes when the NLRB fails to assert jurisdiction. The New York legislature took the action in response to the lack of a quorum at the NLRB.
Before the enactment of this statute, the PERB had jurisdiction mostly over public-sector employers in New York, with jurisdiction over private-sector employers limited to those instances where neither the provisions of the Railway Labor Act nor the terms of the National Labor Relations Act do not apply. In fact, before the stopgap measures were enacted, the New York Labor Relations Act specifically did not apply to any employer covered by the National Labor Relations Act. The new law, which went into effect immediately (September 5, 2025), allows application of the New York Labor Relations Act when the NLRB does not claim jurisdiction after the issuance of a federal court order.
It took just a week for the NLRB to respond to the new law. On September 12, 2025, counsel for the NLRB filed a complaint in federal court, asking for an injunction to prevent the New York Labor Relations Board from attempting to regulate actions that fall under the purview of the federal agency.
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