As the August 27 expiration of his term on the National Labor Relations Board approaches, Mark Gaston Pearce, democrat NLRB member and past chairman, finds himself in the crosshairs of business interests. Yesterday, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) urged President Trump to not reappoint Pearce to the NLRB and that he delay filling the democratic seat. Currently, the NLRB is composed of 3 republican members and 2 democrats. If Pearce is not reappointed by end of business on Monday, then the republican members will hold a 3-1 majority and will likely have the votes to overturn a host of egregious decisions rendered during the Obama (democratic-majority NLRB) administration. First and foremost amongst those decisions would likely be the Obama-era expansion of the joint employer definition which has wreaked havoc in the franchise industry as franchisors were vulnerable to being declared a joint employer. Efforts to pass a legislative fix for the issue have yet to succeed, so the NLRB rescinding the definitional expansion is one quick resolution. The ‘fly in the ointment’ however, is that Senate democrats have been blocking Presidential appointments to other posts that Trump could shake loose if he were to cut a deal with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and reappoint Pearce. We’ll know soon enough . . .