On July 21, 2026, the D.C. Circuit issued a significant post-Loper Bright decision rejecting the National Labor Relations Board’s (“Board”) successor-bar doctrine. In Hospital Menonita de Guayama, Inc. v. NLRB, No. 22-1163 (D.C. Cir. July 21, 2026), a divided panel held that the Board lacked statutory authority to impose the successor bar—a rule that temporarily prevents challenges to an incumbent union’s majority status after a new employer acquires a unionized business. The ruling is among the first appellate decisions to reject an NLRB doctrine following the Supreme Court’s elimination of Chevron deference, signaling that courts may no longer defer to Board policy judgments lacking a clear statutory basis.
The decision follows the Supreme Court’s remand of the case for further consideration in light of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 144 S. Ct. 2244 (2024), discussed here.
The Successor Bar
The successor-bar doctrine applies when a new employer acquires a unionized business… Read the complete article here...
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