The six month limit

This page is legal information, not legal advice. It describes what the law says. It cannot tell you what to do about your own situation.

If something unlawful happened at work, the National Labor Relations Board can only act on it if a charge is filed within six months. After that the door closes, and it does not reopen.

The rule is in the statute itself. Section 10(b) of the National Labor Relations Act says that no complaint shall issue based on any unfair labor practice occurring more than six months before the charge was filed and served. It is written as a limit on the Board, not on the worker, but the effect is the same: a charge filed on day 185 about something that happened on day 1 is out of time.

When the clock starts

The six months run from the day the person filing knew, or reasonably should have known, about the conduct. The Board treats that as a question of fact, decided case by case, so it is not something a website can answer for any particular situation.

Two things follow from that, and they pull in the same direction:

• A long-running problem does not restart the clock just because it is still going on. Each separate unlawful act has its own six months.
• Waiting to see whether something gets sorted out informally can use up the whole window. Nothing about filing a charge stops a conversation from continuing.

What filing actually is

A charge is a short form. It names who is charged, says briefly what happened and when, and goes to the Board's regional office that covers the workplace. It can be filed by a worker, a group of workers, a union, or an employer. There is no fee, and a lawyer is not required.

Filing a charge is not a lawsuit. It asks the regional office to investigate. What happens next is set out in what happens after a charge is filed.

Where this comes from

• National Labor Relations Act, Section 10(b), codified at 29 U.S.C. § 160(b).
• The Board's own description of the filing window, on nlrb.gov.