The American Hotel & Lodging Association issued statement on US supreme court NLRB appointments appeal review

2013-06-26 — /travelprnews.com/ — The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) issues the following statement in response to this morning’s announcement by the United States Supreme Court that the justices have granted the request for review of National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning:

“In the past six months, both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U .S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit have found that the January 2012 presidential recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were unconstitutional,” said Katherine Lugar, AH&LA president/CEO. “Today’s announcement by the Supreme Court that they will hear the NLRB’s appeal of the case will undoubtedly reinforce previous lower court rulings and reiterates one very important point:  by acting without the constitutionally mandated advice and consent of the Senate, the President put in place a quorum of NLRB members who were not by law empowered to issue rulings and policies affecting the American workforce.  As a result, all decisions issued by the NLRB during that time are invalid.”

“Once the high court completes its review of all aspects of this case,” said Lugar, “we are confident the justices will uphold the lower court rulings.”

On January 4, 2012, the Obama Administration made three “recess” appointments to fill vacancies on the NLRB while the Senate was in pro forma session.  AH&LA has argued that the President violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to fill these vacancies, the result of which was that the NLRB had only one active member and thus lacked the necessary quorum for conducting much of its business since the date of their appointment.

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Serving the hospitality industry for more than a century, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) is the sole national association representing all sectors and stakeholders in the lodging industry, including individual hotel property members, hotel companies, student and faculty members, and industry suppliers. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AH&LA provides members with national advocacy on Capitol Hill, public relations and image management, education, research and information, and other value-added services to provide bottom-line savings and ensure a positive business climate for the lodging industry. Partner state associations provide local representation and additional cost-saving benefits to members.