Washington, DC (April 26, 2012) – National Right to Work Foundation attorneys filed two appeals with the U.S. Appeals Court for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago to challenge President Barack Obama’s recent purported recess appointees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The appeals stem from two cases, Richards, Yost, & Echegaray v. Steelworkers and Lugo v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, in which union bosses illegally forced workers to annually renew their objections to paying full union dues. Such schemes, designed to force workers into full-dues-paying union membership, are a clear violation of federal law and the NLRB found that to be the case here.

However, the NLRB – filled with President Barack Obama’s legally-suspect appointments – only applied their ruling to the workers involved in the cases and not retroactively to all workers who have objected in the past to paying full union dues to the respective unions.

As Foundation attorneys appeal to have the Board rulings applied retroactively, Foundation attorneys will again challenge Obama’s move to install three members to the NLRB as “recess appointees” in January despite the fact that the U.S. Senate was not in recess. Foundation attorneys have argued that the appointments are unconstitutional and, therefore, the Board lacks the quorum necessary to hear any cases. When Foundation attorneys raised the issue in these two cases, the Board declared the appointments to be valid.

If Obama’s NLRB appointments are unconstitutional, then the Board has only two valid members and lacks a quorum to enact rules or enforce federal labor law under a U.S. Supreme Court precedent issued in 2010. Foundation attorneys anticipate that the issue will eventually reach the Supreme Court.

Foundation attorneys were among the first to challenge the constitutionality of Obama’s “recess appointments” in federal court with an earlier motion challenging the appointments in another case involving the NLRB’s new posting notice rules. That motion was denied by an Obama-appointed judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“Barack Obama’s so-called recess appointments to the Labor Board clearly violate the U.S. Constitution,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Because the Board does not have a legitimate quorum, it must cease handing down lopsided rulings in Foundation cases until a legitimate quorum is established.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.