Division of Judges

Bench Book Division of Judges

The Bench Book is designed to provide NLRB judges with a reference guide during trials when other resources are unavailable. However, it is also a useful tool for all trial practitioners before the Board. It represents an effort to set forth Board precedent and other rulings and authorities on certain recurring procedural and evidentiary issues that may arise during an NLRB trial. It is not a digest of substantive law. Nor should it be cited as precedent, or be considered a substitute for issue-specific research. The Bench Book includes references to unpublished Board orders, unappealed administrative law judges' decisions, and other Board documents that are not binding precedent. It also includes citations to some of the two-Member Board decisions that issued from January 1, 2008-March 29, 2010, and the recess-Board decisions that issued from January 4, 2012-August 4, 2013. Note that this edition of the Bench Book includes a number of organizational changes from previous editions. The most significant change is to former Chapter 13 (now Chapter 16) on Evidence. The chapter is now organized in the same way as the FRE, and follows the same numbering system, so that the federal rules and treatises on evidence can be cross-referenced more easily. Another significant change is that former Chapter 11 on Miscellaneous Procedural Matters has been deleted. The matters addressed there have been placed in other chapters, including four new chapters on Motions and Special Appeals (Chapter 10), The Hearing Record (Chapter 12), Board Precedent and Relitigation of Issues (Chapter 13), and Supplemental or Related Proceedings (Chapter 14).