The Board’s current jurisdictional standards are:

• Nonretail business: Outflow of at least $50,000 per year from direct sales of goods or services to consumers in other states or indirect sales through others; inflow of at least $50,000 per year in direct purchases of goods or services from suppliers in other states; or indirect purchases passing through a third company (such as a supplier).
• Office buildings and shopping centers: Total annual volume of $100,000 per year, of which $25,000 or more is derived from organizations that meet any of the standards except the indirect outflow and indirect inflow standards established for nonretail enterprises.
• Retail enterprises: At least $500,000 gross annual volume of business.
• Restaurants: The $500,000 annual gross volume standard, applicable to retail enterprises in general, also covers restaurants.
• Public utilities: At least $250,000 total annual volume of business, or $50,000 direct or indirect outflow or inflow.
• Newspapers: At least $200,000 total annual volume of business.
• Radio, telegraph, television and telephone enterprises: At least $100,000 total annual volume of business.
• Hotels, motels and residential apartment houses: At least $500,000 gross annual volume of business.
• Privately operated health care institutions: At least $250,000 total annual volume of business for hospitals; at least $100,000 for nursing homes, visiting nurses’ associations and related facilities; and at least $250,000 for all other types of private health care institutions defined in the 1974 amendments to the NLRA. The statutory definition includes any hospital, convalescent hospital, health maintenance organizations, health clinic, nursing home, extended-care facility or other institution devoted to the care of the sick, infirm or aged person. Public hospitals are excluded from NLRB jurisdiction by section 2(2) of the NLRA.
• Day care centers for children: At least $250,000 in gross annual revenue.
• Transportation enterprise, links and channels of interstate commerce: At least $50,000 total annual income from furnishing interstate passenger and freight transportation services; also performing services valued at $50,000 or more for businesses which meet any of the jurisdictional standards except the indirect outflow and indirect inflow of standards established for nonretail enterprises.
• Transit systems: At least $250,000 total annual volume of business.
• Taxicab companies: At least $500,000 gross annual volume of business.
• Associations: These are regarded as a single employer, and the annual business of all association members is totaled to determine whether any of the standards apply.
• National defense: Jurisdiction is asserted over all enterprises affecting commerce when their operations have a substantial impact on national defense, including private contractors who work for the federal government, regardless of whether the enterprises satisfy any other standard.
• Private universities and colleges: At least $1 million gross annual revenue from all sources (excluding contributions not available for operating expenses because of limitations imposed by the grantor).
• Symphony orchestras: At least $1 million gross annual revenue from all sources (excluding contributions not available for operating expenses because of limitations imposed by the grantor).
• Law firms and legal assistance programs: At least $250,000 gross annual revenues.
• Employers that provide social services: At least $250,000 gross annual volume.
• United States Postal Service
• Gambling casinos: When these enterprises are legally operated, and their gross annual volume from gambling is at least $500,000.
• Indian tribes: The Board has jurisdiction over the commercial enterprises owned and operated by Indian tribes, even on a tribal reservation.
• Religious organizations and schools: The Board asserts jurisdiction over employees in certain operations of a religious organization, such as a hospital, that do not have a religious character.

In 2020, the Board adopted a “substantial religious character” test1 previously formulated by the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,2 under which the Board doesn’t exercise jurisdiction over faculty at an institution that:

• Holds itself out to students, faculty and the community as providing a religious educational environment;
• Is organized as a nonprofit; and
• Is affiliated with, or owned, operated or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a recognized religious organization, or with an entity, membership of which is determined, at least in part, with reference to religion.

Under the newly adopted test, the Board will not inquire into the nature of the institutions’ activities or those of its faculty members.

In 2021, the Board modified its test for determining whether faculty members at colleges and universities are managerial employees.3 The Board will look to whether the faculty body exercises “effective control” at the school and whether, based on the faculty’s structure, the subgroup of faculty members petitioning for an election is included in that managerial faculty body. The Board held in the case before it that the university could not prove the non-tenure-track faculty members were structurally included in the employer’s faculty body and therefore could not prevent the Board from exercising jurisdiction. In 2021, the Board also scrapped a proposed rule that would have made student workers at private universities ineligible to form or join unions.

The Board also does not exercise jurisdiction over racetracks; owners, breeders and trainers of racehorses; or real estate brokers.

Though the NLRB has historically served as the exclusive forum for labor disputes among private employers and their employees, California's legislature passed Assembly Bill 288 (“AB 288”),4 which Governor Gavin Newsom signed on September 30, 2025. AB 288 expands both worker rights and the authority of California's Public Employee Relations Board (“PERB”), a state agency that traditionally has overseen labor relations for public sector employees in California. PERB administers and enforces laws related to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices for public employees; with AB 288, PERB’s authority extends to certain private sector workers.

Previously, private sector labor relations have been governed by the NLRB. However, AB 288 now empowers PERB to enforce labor rights for private sector workers when federal protections are unavailable or ineffective. For example, PERB can now process union representation petitions and certify exclusive bargaining representations, investigate and decide upon unfair labor practice charges, and order remedies and impose civil penalties in relation to unfair labor practices. PERB’s ability to take these actions is triggered by specific circumstances, including:

• If federal protections under the NLRA are repealed, narrowed, or enforcement is blocked, and the worker is not covered by other labor laws.
• If the NLRB is unable or unwilling to act, such as:
• Lack of a functioning NLRB quorum;
• Significant delays in processing cases; and
• Failure to act on union certification or unfair labor practice complaints within specified timeframes.

• On October 15, 2025, the NLRB filed a complaint in federal court, arguing that AB 288 violates the NLRA, which grants the federal agency exclusive jurisdiction over private sector labor relations. On December 26, 2025, the federal district court granted a preliminary injunction barring California from enforcing the new laws’ provisions that would have given PERB jurisdiction over private sector disputes based on the lack of NLRB quorum, loss of independence and processing delays.5

1. Bethany College, 369 NLRB No. 98 (2020)