NLRB Accepting “Electronic Signatures” on Authorization Cards

People will probably still call them authorization “cards,” but that name becomes inaccurate under new rules recently announced by the National Labor Relations Board. Now instead of signing an actual paper card, an employee may indicate his or her interest in joining a union by filling out a simple form online. The Board will view the completed form as the employee's “electronic signature.” “Effective immediately,” the NLRB General Counsel wrote in a recent memorandum, “parties may submit electronic signatures in support of a showing of interest.”