Satellite Healthcare: Delegated Regional Powers Survived the Board’s Quorum Gap

A Regional Director’s union-election certification remained effective despite a gap in the National Labor Relations Board’s quorum. In Satellite Healthcare (Santa Rosa), 374 NLRB No. 25 (Jan. 15, 2026), the Board denied the employer’s request for review and explained why delegated regional representation authority continued.

The employer challenged the Regional Director’s authority

The Regional Director had issued a decision overruling the employer’s election objection and certifying a representative in Case 20-RC-360713. The named union was Service Employees International Union, United Healthcare Workers—West. Satellite Healthcare sought review by the Board.

The employer argued that the Regional Director could not rule on the objection or certify the result because the Board lacked a quorum both when the objection was filed and when the regional decision issued. The published order addresses that authority argument; it does not describe the underlying election objection’s facts. Satellite Healthcare, order, PDF pages 1 & note 1.

Delegated regional powers continued during the quorum gap

Members Prouty, Murphy and Mayer denied review because the request raised no substantial issue warranting it. The order relied on Durham School Services, 361 NLRB 702 (2014), for the Board’s established reading of section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act: Regional Directors continue exercising delegated authority when the Board lacks a quorum.

The order also cited the agency’s continuity rules. Section 102.178 states the policy of continuing normal operations to the greatest extent permitted by law during a quorum gap. Section 102.182 contemplates continued representation processing and appropriate certifications, to the extent practicable, despite a pending request for review. Those provisions distinguish a Board membership problem from the regional duties already delegated.

Loper Bright preserved prior statutory holdings

The employer also invoked Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369 (2024), which overruled the Chevron deference framework. The Board pointed to the Supreme Court’s express treatment of earlier decisions: Overruling that framework did not call into question prior holdings that specific agency actions were lawful.

The Board explained that the preserved prior holdings included UC Health v. NLRB, 803 F.3d 669, 675 (D.C. Cir. 2015), whose reasoning grounded the regional delegation in the statute’s text, structure and purpose. The continued validity of a prior statutory holding required analysis of that holding, rather than an assumption that the end of Chevron had erased it. Satellite Healthcare, note 1.

The certification survived the requested review

The order left the Regional Director’s certification in place. Its significance lies in the two authority distinctions it explains: Delegated regional action versus Board-level quorum, and an existing statutory holding versus the judicial method once used to review agency interpretations.

For a pending election matter, the issued decision, preserved objection and current filing rules remain necessary. Our separate guide explains reviewing a regional certification during a Board quorum gap, including why a review request and an actual stay should be kept separate.