To decertify a union, employees in the bargaining unit file an RD petition with the National Labor Relations Board, backed by signatures from at least 30% of the unit, and then win a secret-ballot election by a simple majority of votes cast. The process has to be employee-driven from start to finish. Employers are legally barred from starting it or helping run it, and timing rules will knock a petition out before anyone reads it if the filing lands in the wrong window.
When You Can File
The NLRB will not process a petition filed outside its permitted windows. Getting the timing right matters more than any other step.
Contract Bar
If a collective bargaining agreement covers your workplace, no decertification petition can be filed during the first three years of that contract.1National Labor Relations Board. National Labor Relations Board Retains Longstanding Contract-Bar Doctrine Longer contracts still cap the bar at three years. The filing window is 30 days wide: it opens 90 days before the contract (or the three-year mark) expires and closes 60 days before expiration.2NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD. Basic Guide to the National Labor Relations Act Miss it, and you wait for the next cycle.
Healthcare institutions run on a shifted schedule. At hospitals and similar facilities, the 30-day window opens 120 days before expiration and closes 90 days before.3National Labor Relations Board. Decertification Election
Election Bar
Federal law prohibits the NLRB from directing an election in a bargaining unit where a valid election happened within the past 12 months.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 159 – Representatives and Elections This covers any prior NLRB-supervised vote, whether certification, decertification, or otherwise. A petition can be filed up to 60 days before that year ends, but the election itself won’t be scheduled until the bar lifts.2NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD. Basic Guide to the National Labor Relations Act
Voluntary Recognition Bar
When a union was recognized voluntarily by the employer rather than through a Board election, a separate bar applies. Under current NLRB rules, a decertification petition cannot be filed for at least six months after the parties begin bargaining their first contract, and that period can stretch up to a year depending on how bargaining goes. If you’re not sure how your union was established, the regional NLRB office can tell you which rules apply to your situation.
Construction Pre-Hire Agreements
Construction workers covered by a Section 8(f) pre-hire agreement have a clearer path. Because those agreements don’t require proof of majority union support, they cannot bar a decertification petition.5Federal Register. Representation-Case Procedures: Election Bars; Proof of Majority Support in Construction Industry Collective-Bargaining Relationships A construction union claiming full Section 9(a) status has to demonstrate it actually held majority support when it was recognized.
Gathering the 30% Showing of Interest
At least 30% of the employees in the bargaining unit must sign cards or a petition stating they want a decertification election.3National Labor Relations Board. Decertification Election The bargaining unit is the specific group the union represents, which is not always every employee at the company. Only signatures from inside the unit count.
The NLRB keeps signature evidence confidential and does not share it with the employer or the union.6eCFR. 29 CFR Part 102 Subpart D – Procedure Under Section 9(c) of the Act The gathering itself happens in the workplace, though, so the process is rarely fully invisible. What matters most: management cannot be part of it. If a supervisor circulates cards or helps collect signatures, the whole petition can be dismissed.
Filing Form NLRB-502 (RD)
The petition is Form NLRB-502, RD version (Removal of Representative), available on the NLRB website.7National Labor Relations Board. Steps for Filing a Petition It asks for the employer’s full legal name and address, the union’s complete name and local number, a description of the bargaining unit (which job classifications are covered), and the total headcount in the unit. The NLRB uses that headcount to verify the 30% showing.
The completed form and signature evidence go to the NLRB regional office covering the area where the unit works.6eCFR. 29 CFR Part 102 Subpart D – Procedure Under Section 9(c) of the Act Filing options include the NLRB’s e-filing system, fax, or hand delivery. Electronic filers don’t need to submit a paper original.
The Election
A regional office agent investigates once the petition arrives. They confirm the filing falls inside an allowed window, that the signatures meet the 30% threshold, and that the bargaining unit description is accurate. If everything checks out, the NLRB schedules a secret-ballot election.
Elections have historically been scheduled within roughly three to five weeks of filing, though that has varied with the procedural rules in effect at the time.8Federal Register. Representation-Case Procedures A pending unfair labor practice charge that could taint the vote can push the date back; the regional director has authority to postpone in those situations.9National Labor Relations Board. NLRB Issues Fair Choice-Employee Voice Final Rule
Voting is normally in person at the workplace, supervised by an NLRB agent. The ballot asks whether employees wish to keep the union as their representative. A simple majority of votes cast decides the outcome, not a majority of everyone in the unit. If more than half of the ballots cast go against the union, the NLRB certifies the results and the union loses its status as bargaining representative.
One detail catches people off guard. A tie vote decertifies the union. The NLRB’s rule is that “unless a majority of the votes cast in the election are in favor of union representation, the union will be decertified.”3National Labor Relations Board. Decertification Election A 50-50 split is not majority support, so the union is out.
What Employers and Unions Can and Cannot Do
The NLRA makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer to interfere with employees exercising their organizing rights, and that includes the right to seek decertification.10National Labor Relations Board. National Labor Relations Act Management cannot:
- Draft the petition, circulate cards, or provide company time or resources for signature gathering
- Promise raises, promotions, or improved conditions if employees vote out the union
- Threaten layoffs, closures, or benefit cuts if the union stays
- Pay for printing, meetings, or other campaign expenses
Violations can get the petition dismissed or the election overturned. This is where decertification efforts most often collapse: a manager gets involved, and the union has grounds for an unfair labor practice charge.
Employers are not required to stay silent, though. Section 8(c) of the NLRA protects the employer’s right to express views, arguments, or opinions about unionization, as long as those statements contain no threat of reprisal and no promise of benefit.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 US Code 158 – Unfair Labor Practices Sharing factual information about union costs, explaining what the company could do differently without a contract, or answering employee questions all sit on the permitted side. Facts are fine. Leverage is not.
Unions face parallel limits. Representatives cannot threaten or coerce employees to discourage decertification support or to punish those who sign. Intimidation, harassment, and threats of job loss or blacklisting are unfair labor practices on the union side as well.
Objecting to the Results
Any party (the union, the employer, or the petitioning employees) can file objections within five business days after the NLRB prepares the tally of ballots.12eCFR. 29 CFR 102.69 – Election Procedure; Tally of Ballots; Objections The objection must include a short explanation of the grounds and a written offer of proof, meaning specific evidence that improper conduct affected the outcome. Valid grounds include threats or coercion by either side, promises of benefit, surveillance of voters, and procedural errors in how the NLRB ran the ballot.
The regional director investigates and can order a new election if the misconduct was serious enough to have changed the result. Five business days is a hard deadline with little flexibility, so anyone who suspects problems has to move immediately after the count.
What Changes After a Successful Vote
Winning removes the union as the exclusive bargaining representative, but the aftermath reaches further than that single change.
The contract does not vanish overnight. Once the union is decertified, the employer is no longer legally required to bargain with it or recognize it. The wages, benefits, and working conditions in effect at the time of the vote generally remain as the baseline. Employees don’t lose their current terms the next day. But going forward, the employer can change those terms, because no union sits across the table anymore. Each employee negotiates individually from that point on.
If your employer contributed to a multiemployer pension plan under the union contract, decertification is a significant financial event. The employer’s obligation to contribute ends, which triggers withdrawal liability under federal law.13Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. OGC Opinion Letter – Complete Withdrawal Definition Withdrawal liability means the employer owes its proportional share of the plan’s unfunded benefit obligations, covering more than just its own employees’ benefits. The amount can be substantial and applies regardless of why the employer left the plan.
Benefits already earned and vested in the multiemployer plan remain yours under ERISA’s vesting rules. Future accrual under that plan stops. The employer may set up a new retirement plan, but doing so does not reduce the withdrawal liability owed to the old plan unless the plan sponsor agrees to transfer a portion of the unfunded benefits.
Once the NLRB certifies the decertification, the 12-month election bar restarts.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 159 – Representatives and Elections No new representation election can be directed for a year, whether to bring back the same union, choose a different one, or anything else. If employees later want union representation again, they wait out the year and start the standard certification process from the beginning.
Deauthorization Is a Different Petition
These two processes get confused, and filing the wrong one wastes time. A deauthorization election, filed on a UD petition, removes the union security clause from the contract (the provision that requires employees to join the union or pay dues as a condition of employment). The union stays as the bargaining representative, and the rest of the contract continues.2NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD. Basic Guide to the National Labor Relations Act A decertification election, the RD petition, removes the union entirely. If your goal is to stop paying dues but keep the union negotiating for the rest of the unit, deauthorization is the correct filing. If you want the union gone, you need decertification. Both require a 30% showing of interest, but the outcomes are not comparable.