A New Deal creation under the 1935 Wagner Act. Its separately confirmed General Counsel decides which cases to prosecute, while the five-member Board acts as the appellate court of American labor law.
Open the interactive page for NLRB →Created byNational Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) of 1935 (49 Stat. 449)
Head appointed29 U.S.C. § 153(a): President appoints 5 Board members, Senate consent, 5-yr staggered terms; Chairman designated by President; separate General Counsel is PAS with a 4-yr term, 29 U.S.C. § 153(d) (PAS)
Removal standardfor cause: members removable 'upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause' (29 U.S.C. § 153(a)); the General Counsel has no removal protection; the Board protection was stayed from enforcement in Trump v. Wilcox (2025) and stands or falls with Trump v. Slaughter
Funded underDepartments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations act — straight appropriation, no fees
Congressional oversightHouse Education and Workforce · Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Inspector generalown OIG (designated federal entity under IG Act — IG appointed by the Board)
Judicial reviewUnfair-labor-practice orders enforced and reviewed in courts of appeals, 29 U.S.C. § 160(e)-(f); representation-election rulings are not directly reviewable — only indirectly through a refusal-to-bargain ULP case
File an unfair-labor-practice charge at no cost; vote in or help organize a union election; vote for President, who appoints the Board.
SEC · CFTC · FTC · FCC · FEC · NRC · CPSC · EEOC · full org map