§ 1581. Petitions for election; filing, investigations, hearings, determinations
(a) A petition may be filed with the Board, in accordance with rules adopted by the Board:
(1) By an employee or group of employees, or any individual or labor organization acting
in their behalf, alleging that not less than 30 percent of the employees:
(A) wish to be represented for collective bargaining and that their employer declines
to recognize their representative as the representative defined in section 1583 of this title; or
(B) assert that the individual or labor organization that has been certified, or is being
currently recognized by their employer as the bargaining representative, is no longer
a representative as defined in section 1583 of this title.
(2) By an employer, alleging that one or more individuals or labor organizations have
presented to him or her a claim to be recognized as the representative defined in
section 1583 of this title.
(b)(1) The Board shall investigate the petition and if it has reasonable cause to believe
that a question of representation exists shall provide for an appropriate hearing
before the Board itself, a Board member, or its agents appointed for that purpose
upon due notice. Written notice of the hearing shall be mailed by certified mail to
the parties named in the petition not less than seven days before the hearing.
(2) If the Board finds upon the record of the hearing that a question of representation
exists, it shall conduct an election by secret ballot marked at the place of election
and certify to the parties, in writing, the results of the election.
(3)(A) If the Board finds upon the record of the hearing that a petition to be represented
for collective bargaining filed pursuant to subdivision (a)(1)(A) of this section,
which identifies a proposed bargaining representative, bears the signatures of at
least 50 percent plus one of the employees in the bargaining unit, the Board shall
certify the individual or labor organization identified as the bargaining representative.
(B) Certification of a representative shall only be available pursuant to this subdivision
(3) when no other individual or labor organization is currently certified or recognized
as the bargaining representative.
(c) In determining whether or not a question of representation exists, the Board shall
apply the same rules regardless of the identity of the persons filing the petition
or the kind of relief sought.
(d) Nothing in this chapter prohibits the waiving of hearings by stipulation for a consent
election in conformity with rules of the Board.
(e) For the purposes of this chapter, representatives of employees of a collective bargaining
unit voluntarily recognized by an employer through the voluntary negotiation of an
employment contract with such unit shall constitute recognized representatives of
the employees until such time as any other representative is recognized under the
provisions of this section or until such representatives’ authority is rescinded under
section 1584 of this title. (Added 1967, No. 198, § 8; amended 1973, No. 213 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. April 3, 1974; 2023, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 239, eff. July 1, 2024; 2023, No. 117 (Adj. Sess.), § 6, eff. July 1, 2024; 2025, No. 18, § 34, eff. May 13, 2025.)