Michigan worker urges court action on blocked union decertification vote

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William L. Messenger Vice President and Legal Director (2023-Present) | NRTWLD&EF, Inc

By Sky Industry News

Jul 28, 2025

Rayalan Kent, an employee of Rieth-Riley, a Michigan-based asphalt company, has submitted an amicus brief to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Kent’s filing is part of the ongoing case Rieth-Riley Construction Co. vs. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The case centers on whether workers should have the right to vote out union representation at their workplace.

Kent, who has been represented by attorneys from the National Right to Work Foundation since 2020, became involved after he and his coworkers petitioned for a vote to remove the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 324 from representing them. Despite collecting support and proceeding toward an election, the NLRB dismissed their petitions in 2022 and halted the ballot count hours before votes were to be tallied. The Board cited a “merit-determination” dismissal due to unfair labor practice charges filed by IUOE against Rieth-Riley management dating back to 2018. However, no hearing was held regarding whether those allegations had any relation to the employees’ effort to decertify the union.

Kent’s legal brief asks the court to invalidate this “merit-determination” policy used by the NLRB, which allows so-called “blocking charges” to stop union decertification elections based only on allegations rather than proven facts. The brief further requests that the court require the NLRB to count ballots already cast in Kent’s decertification election.

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According to Kent’s brief, federal law requires that when employees file a valid petition for a decertification vote, the NLRB must hold a hearing and conduct an election if there is a question about union representation. The brief states: “by dismissing Mr. Kent’s decertification petitions based on the mere allegations in the Union’s blocking charge, the Region and the Board failed to comply with Congress’ directive that the Board ‘shall’ conduct a hearing and ‘shall’ conduct an election when a question of representation exists.”

The brief also argues that current agency rules were violated by this policy. In 2020, under its Election Protection Rule (EPR), the NLRB established that blocking charges could not prevent workers from voting in union decertification elections; instead, votes should be held and counted prior to investigating any related allegations.

The brief reads: “Here, the Board is refusing to follow its own rules by dismissing Mr. Kent’s decertification petitions because of speculation, unproven allegations, and a confidential ‘investigation’ to which he is not privy.”

National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix commented: “In this brief, Rayalan Kent and his coworkers speak for all independent-minded American workers, whose clear right under federal law to vote to remove union officials they disapprove of is gravely threatened by the existence of the NLRB’s various invented non-statutory policies. Union bosses should not be able to unilaterally override this right, and the Sixth Circuit needs to restore to workers their fundamental rights of free choice under the National Labor Relations Act.”