Donald Schroeder Comments on the National Labor Relations Board’s Interest in Awarding Consequential Damages to Rectify Labor Violations

Foley Partner Donald Schroeder was quoted in a Law360 article, “4 Traditional Labor Cases To Watch In 2022, discussing whether the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) should order consequential damages in all cases where workers are harmed by unfair labor practices, or only to address egregious violations, and why the board should or should not add this remedy to its repertoire.

Schroeder said he’s concerned that the board’s interest in consequential damages could “become somewhat of a runaway train in terms of the actual remedies that an administrative law judge could put on the table.” That could encourage more labor litigation, he said.

“[Unions] will, instead of trying to settle a matter for something close to traditional remedies, … see this environment as ripe for securing a much greater settlement by way of litigation,” Schroeder said.

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