New General Counsel Rescinds Several GC Memos from Prior Administration, Signaling Change on the Horizon

By: Gaetano A. Urgo

February 28, 2025

Newly appointed National Labor Relations Board General Counsel William B. Cowen recently rescinded several General Counsel Memos issued by the former General Counsel, Biden-appointee Jennifer Abruzzo. Earlier this month, President Trump appointed Cowen as acting General Counsel. This appointment came two weeks after President Trump terminated then-General Counsel Abruzzo and made the unprecedented move of firing Board Member Gwynne Wilcox. At the time, the terminations clouded the future of the Agency. While the Board is still currently without enough members to issue a decision, the appointment of General Counsel Cowen and his subsequent rescission of prior GC Memos confirms changes are coming to the philosophy of the Agency.

Former General Counsel’s Stance on Federal Labor Law via GC Memos

The General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board is the lead prosecutor in the country when it comes to federal labor violations in the private sector. Part of the General Counsel’s responsibilities is to issue memoranda which map areas of federal labor law the Agency wishes to address, either through rulemaking or adjudication through Board decisions. Former-General Counsel Abruzzo’s legacy was built on expanding and protecting employee rights, and she accomplished this largely by issuing GC Memos explaining the areas she sought to change, and encouraging the Division of Advice to recommend more cases for adjudication to make these changes.

General Counsel Cowen’s Memo

General Counsel William Cowen’s Memo (GC 25-05) rescinded several notable GC Memos including:

• GC 21-06 and GC 21-07 – seeking to expand remedies available for unfair labor practice violations, including implementing “make-whole” remedies and awards of consequential damages to make up for economic losses (other than loss of pay or benefits) that employees may suffer as a result of an employer’s unfair labor practice.
• GC 21-08 – seeking to provide Section 7 rights under the NLRA to student-athletes and taking the position that misclassifying them as “student-athletes” leads them to believe they do not have statutory protections and, as a result, violates section 8(a)(1) of the Act.
• GC 23-02 – addressing electronic monitoring and automated management practices, such as GPS tracking devices, cameras, and key loggers, that allegedly tend to interfere with Section 7 rights by constantly monitoring employees.
• GC 23-05 – addressing severance agreements and asserting that merely offering a severance agreement to an employee with broad language that requires employees to waive their rights under the Act, prohibits employees from disparaging the employer, and requires employees to keep the terms of the agreement confidential infringes on employees Section 7 rights and violates Section 8(a)(1) of the Act.
• GC 23-08 and GC 25-01 – addressing non-compete agreements and asserting that they interfere with employees’ Section 7 rights and violate Section 8(a)(1) of the Act by restricting employees from quitting or changing jobs to join other employees at a competitor and exercise rights to improve working conditions in their new workplace. These memos also asserted that non-compete agreements chill employees from engaging in Section 7 activity because the employees know they will have a more difficult time replacing their lost income if they are terminated for exercising statutory rights and their bargaining power is undermined in the context of lockouts, strikes, or other labor disputes because they cannot leave and compete.

What It Means:

By rescinding these memos, General Counsel Cowen indicates a drastic shift in the Agency’s philosophy moving forward. While Former-General Counsel Abruzzo sought to make expansive changes to the law and encouraged the Division of Advice to recommend more cases for adjudication to accomplish those goals, General Counsel Cowen appears to intend to curb that effort. Notably, he acknowledged as much in his Memo by stating, “[t]he unfortunate truth is that if we attempt to accomplish everything, we risk accomplishing nothing.”

In light of General Counsel Cowen’s memo, employers can rest assured the Board will not be pursuing expansion of the above-listed employee rights. While the Board cannot issue any decisions at the moment, that will change once President Trump appoints a new member to the Board. Employers can expect change in their favor once that happens.

If you have any questions about the effect of this GC Memo on your business, please contact one of our labor and employment attorneys at Davis & Campbell at (309) 673-1681 (Peoria), (312) 995-7110 (Chicago), or (520) 677-7401 (Phoenix).