Further and Further, Amen: Expanded National Labor Relations Board Jurisdiction over Religious Schools

Abstract

The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) is charged with protecting workers’ rights through providing access to collective bargaining and enforcing unfair labor complaints. This charge meets an oft-competing mission, however, when applied to religiously affiliated educational institutions, which are guaranteed the protections of the religion clauses of the First Amendment. For many years, parochial schools have been beyond the reach of the NLRB. But with the Board’s 2014 decision in Pacific Lutheran University, that longstanding de facto moratorium has been called into question. This Note argues that the NLRB’s recently expanded jurisdiction is both inappropriate and likely unconstitutional. Ultimately, this Note recommends voluntary bargaining outside the NLRB framework as a way for the NLRB to avoid unconstitutional entanglement with religious schools and for religious educators to practice what they preach.