The NLRB General Counsel recently announced that they will accept electronic signatures to prove support for an NLRB petition. This is one of the worst decisions to come out of the General Counsel’s office recently. Given the number of bad decisions coming out of that office recently, this is saying something. Traditionally the NLRB has required actual mechanical signatures to prove a showing of interest. These signatures could be verified if there was a question about their authenticity. The signature had to be on a document that showed the employee knew what they were signing (something like an authorization card). Even with these precautions in place occasionally suspect signatures get turned in. I know at least one former organizer who claims to have forged signatures to support an NLRB petition. How often it happens is impossible to say, but at least under the current process you can compare a signature on an authorization card to a document in possession of the employer to determine authenticity. The new process is completely unverifiable. The union is required to turn in a number of data points, but there is no way to verify the employee actually “signed” the authorization web page. The web page could say nearly anything. “Want to see the new Grumpy Cat video? Just enter in a few details below – oh, and let us to represent you.” The page could say nothing about union authorization and be changed later. There is no way to verify that the “signature” is actually a showing of interest in any way shape or form. Electronic signatures are inherently unreliable and not taken seriously. Signing by hand is taken much more seriously. A recent study shows that people who sign electronically are more likely to cheat and lie than those who hand-sign. Why would the General Counsel change this long-standing practice? The same reason most decisions seem to be getting made these days. It supposedly makes union organizing easier. This is probably another one of those “be careful what you wish for” rule changes for unions. My prediction is that unions will lose elections supported by electronic signatures at a significantly higher rate than those supported by hand-signatures. Electronic signatures aren’t serious. If a union relies on them they do so at their peril. Don’t get me wrong. Electronic signatures will be a useful organizing tool. Unions will be able to get these signatures more easily. They may be able to use them as a first step to getting an employee list, withdrawing the petition but now with a complete list of employees to contact. It’s good for unions, but it’s terrible policy.
