For the second time in four years, a U.S. president has quickly dismissed the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and replaced them with a new acting general counsel, who then immediately issued a memorandum rescinding many of the general counsel memoranda of their predecessor.¹ While this pattern represents a disappointing trend for federal labor policy to become increasingly subject to purely political winds, such memoranda can provide practitioners a roadmap as to where a new administration will direct labor policy for the coming years. The latest of these recission memoranda, Memorandum GC 25-05, issued on February 14, 2025, by Acting General Counsel William Cowen, is no exception.

The general counsel memorandum is a long-established means for the NLRB’s chief prosecutor to signal the general counsel’s prosecutorial agenda and to communicate with the various regional directors and, indirectly, with practitioners regarding the NLRB’s direction on various issues. The prior general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, who was abruptly dismissed shortly after the recent change in administration, did not hesitate to pursue cases and publish memoranda during her tenure outlining an agenda that not only reversed her predecessor, but attempted to lead federal labor policy in a direction that went well beyond existing law. This included her direction on such issues as the rights of student athletes in academic institutions to organize, the terms of separation agreements with individual employees as set forth in the NLRB’s 2023 McLaren Macomb decision, the legal status of non-compete agreements, the expansion of damages that can be awarded in ULP cases (Memorandum GC 24-04), an entirely new process to secure a representation election as set forth in the NLRB’s 2023 Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC decision, and the elimination of captive audience and other mandatory meetings (Memorandum GC 22-04).

Acting General Counsel Cowen has now signaled his intention to reverse direction, noting in the preface to the memorandum that the agency’s “backlog of cases [has grown] to the point where it is no longer sustainable.” His recission memorandum identifies 14 Abruzzo memoranda that are rescinded outright, including those identified above. The full list is:

• GC 21-02 Recission of Certain General Counsel Memoranda (by then-Acting General Counsel Peter Sung Ohr)
• GC 21-03 Effectuation of the National Labor Relations Act Through Vigorous Enforcement of the Mutual Aid or Protection and Inherently Concerted Doctrines
• GC 21-04 Mandatory Submissions to Advice
• GC 21-08 Statutory Rights of Players at Academic Institutions
• GC 22-06 Update on Efforts to Secure Full Remedies in Settlements
• GC 23-02 Electronic Monitoring and Algorithmic Management of Employees
• GC 23-04 Status Update on Advice Submissions Pursuant to Memo 21-04
• GC 23-05 Guidance in Response to Inquiries about the McLaren Macomb Decision
• GC 23-08 Non-Compete Agreements that Violate the National Labor Relations Act
• GC 24-04 Securing Full Remedies for All Victims of Unlawful Conduct
• GC 24-05 Section 10(j) Injunctive Relief and the U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision in Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney
• GC 24-06 Clarifying Universities’ and Colleges’ Disclosure Obligations Under the National Labor Relations Act
• GC 25-01 Remedying the Harmful Effects of Non-Compete and “Stay-or-Pay” Provisions
• GC 25-02 Ensuring Settlement Agreements Adequately Address Public Rights at Issue in the Underlying ULP Allegations

Where some of these issues have become NLRB law, it is clear that Acting General Counsel Cowen intends to seek reversal. With the NLRB currently lacking a quorum and litigation pending over the removal of NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox, the steering of the ship will take some time.

Acting General Counsel Cowen’s recission memorandum identifies another set of memoranda that are rescinded “pending further guidance.” This list includes:

• GC 21-05 Utilization of Section 10(j) Proceedings
• GC 21-06 Seeking Full Remedies
• GC 21-07 Full Remedies in Settlement Agreements
• GC 22-01 Ensuring Rights and Remedies for Immigrant Workers
• GC 22-02 Seeking 10(j) Injunctions in Response to Unlawful Threats or Other Coercion
• GC 22-03 Inter-agency Coordination
• GC 22-05 Goals for Initial ULP Investigations
• GC 23-01 Settling the Section 10(j) Aspect of Cases Warranting Interim Relief
• GC 23-07 Procedures for Seeking Compliance with and Enforcement of Board Orders
• GC 24-01 Guidance in Response to Inquiries about the Board’s Decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC
• GC 25-03 New Processes for More Efficient, Effective, Accessible and Transparent Case handling
• GC 25-04 Harmonization of the NLRA and EEO Laws
• GC 22-04 The Right to Refrain from Captive Audience and other Mandatory Meetings

Of particular note for employers, Acting General Counsel Cowen’s statement that he will issue further guidance to the regions related to seeking remedies in settlement agreements of unfair labor practice charges and related to the new process for representation cases under Cemex suggests that the agency’s approach to these matters will be changing.

While a recission memorandum has no legal authority, it states a clear direction that the NLRB’s top prosecutor intends to pursue in the coming months and years. The scope of this recission is quite broad and ambitious, but Acting General Counsel Cowen appears to be signaling that the agency will be carefully considering its prosecutorial agenda. As Acting General Counsel Cowen noted in the recission memorandum: “if we attempt to accomplish everything, we risk accomplishing nothing.”