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Title 29, LaborRelease 119-110

§153 National Labor Relations Board

Title 29 › CHAPTER 7 — LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS › SUBCHAPTER II — NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS › § 153

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Keeps the National Labor Relations Board as a U.S. agency and explains how it is made up and run. The Board must have five members appointed by the President with the Senate’s approval. Two extra members were added: one gets a five-year term and one gets a two-year term. After that, members serve five-year terms, and anyone picked to fill a vacancy serves only the rest of that term. The President picks one member to be Chairman. A member can be removed by the President only for neglect of duty or malfeasance, and only after notice and a hearing. The Board can give its powers to any group of three or more members. It can also let regional directors decide bargaining units, investigate and hold hearings, and run certain secret-ballot elections and certify results. If someone asks, the Board can review a regional director’s action, but that review does not automatically stop the action unless the Board orders a stay. Three members make a quorum for the Board (two for a delegated group). The Board has an official seal. At the end of each fiscal year the Board must send a written report to Congress and the President about major cases and operations. The President appoints a General Counsel for four years with Senate approval. The General Counsel supervises Board lawyers (except administrative law judges and members’ legal assistants), runs investigations and brings complaints under section 160, and prosecutes those complaints before the Board. If the General Counsel’s office is vacant, the President may name an acting official, but that person cannot serve more than 40 days while Congress is in session unless a nomination has been sent to the Senate, and cannot serve after the final adjournment (adjournment sine die) of the Senate session that considered that nomination.

Full Legal Text

Title 29, §153

Labor, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Creation, composition, appointment, and tenure; Chairman; removal of members
The National Labor Relations Board (hereinafter called the “Board”) created by this subchapter prior to its amendment by the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947 [29 U.S.C. 141 et seq.], is continued as an agency of the United States, except that the Board shall consist of five instead of three members, appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Of the two additional members so provided for, one shall be appointed for a term of five years and the other for a term of two years. Their successors, and the successors of the other members, shall be appointed for terms of five years each, excepting that any individual chosen to fill a vacancy shall be appointed only for the unexpired term of the member whom he shall succeed. The President shall designate one member to serve as Chairman of the Board. Any member of the Board may be removed by the President, upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause.
(b)Delegation of powers to members and regional directors; review and stay of actions of regional directors; quorum; seal
The Board is authorized to delegate to any group of three or more members any or all of the powers which it may itself exercise. The Board is also authorized to delegate to its regional directors its powers under section 159 of this title to determine the unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining, to investigate and provide for hearings, and determine whether a question of representation exists, and to direct an election or take a secret ballot under subsection (c) or (e) of section 159 of this title and certify the results thereof, except that upon the filing of a request therefor with the Board by any interested person, the Board may review any action of a regional director delegated to him under this paragraph, but such a review shall not, unless specifically ordered by the Board, operate as a stay of any action taken by the regional director. A vacancy in the Board shall not impair the right of the remaining members to exercise all of the powers of the Board, and three members of the Board shall, at all times, constitute a quorum of the Board, except that two members shall constitute a quorum of any group designated pursuant to the first sentence hereof. The Board shall have an official seal which shall be judicially noticed.
(c)Annual reports to Congress and the President
The Board shall at the close of each fiscal year make a report in writing to Congress and to the President summarizing significant case activities and operations for that fiscal year.
(d)General Counsel; appointment and tenure; powers and duties; vacancy
There shall be a General Counsel of the Board who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of four years. The General Counsel of the Board shall exercise general supervision over all attorneys employed by the Board (other than administrative law judges and legal assistants to Board members) and over the officers and employees in the regional offices. He shall have final authority, on behalf of the Board, in respect of the investigation of charges and issuance of complaints under section 160 of this title, and in respect of the prosecution of such complaints before the Board, and shall have such other duties as the Board may prescribe or as may be provided by law. In case of a vacancy in the office of the General Counsel the President is authorized to designate the officer or employee who shall act as General Counsel during such vacancy, but no person or persons so designated shall so act (1) for more than forty days when the Congress is in session unless a nomination to fill such vacancy shall have been submitted to the Senate, or (2) after the adjournment sine die of the session of the Senate in which such nomination was submitted.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, referred to in subsec. (a), is act June 23, 1947, ch. 120, 61 Stat. 136, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this act to the Code, see section 141 of this title and Tables. Codification In subsec. (d), “administrative law judges” substituted for “trial examiners” pursuant to section 3105 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, and section 3 of Pub. L. 95–251, Mar. 27, 1978, 92 Stat. 184, which is set out as a note under section 3105 of Title 5.

Amendments

1982—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 97–375 substituted “summarizing significant case activities and operations for that fiscal year” for “stating in detail the cases it has heard, the decisions it has rendered, and an account of all moneys it has disbursed”. 1975—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 93–608 struck out requirement that report contain the names, salaries, and duties of all employees and officers employed or supervised by the Board. 1959—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 86–257, § 701(b), authorized the Board to delegate to its regional directors its powers under section 159 of this title to determine the unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining, to investigate and provide for hearings, and determine whether a question of representation exists, and to direct an election or take a secret ballot under section 159(c) or 159(e) of this title and certify the results thereof. Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 86–257, § 703, authorized the President to designate the officer or employee who shall act as General Counsel in the case of a vacancy in the office of the General Counsel. 1947—Act June 23, 1947, amended section generally by increasing membership from three to five, delegating its powers and duties to a quorum of any three members, and by appointing a General Counsel and outlining his powers and duties.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1959 Amendment Pub. L. 86–257, title VII, § 707, Sept. 14, 1959, 73 Stat. 546, provided that: “The

Amendments

made by this title [amending this section and section 158, 159, and 160 of this title] shall take effect sixty days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Sept. 14, 1959] and no provision of this title shall be deemed to make an unfair labor practice, any act which is performed prior to such

Effective Date

which did not constitute an unfair labor practice prior thereto.” Termination of Reporting RequirementsFor termination, effective May 15, 2000, of provisions in subsec. (c) of this section relating to making a report in writing to Congress at the close of each fiscal year, see section 3003 of Pub. L. 104–66, as amended, set out as a note under section 1113 of Title 31, Money and Finance, and page 184 of House Document No. 103–7.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

29 U.S.C. § 153

Title 29, Labor

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110