On June 16, 2025 President Trump announced two key nominations to the National Labor Relations Board: Scott Mayer and James Murphy. If confirmed, Mayer and Murphy will join Chairman Marvin Kaplan (Republican; term ends 8/27/25) and Member David Prouty (Democrat), restoring quorum to the agency after months of recurring vacancies and uncertainty. Given the Senate’s Republican-led majority, both nominations are likely to be confirmed. Either way, it seems Trump is ready to get the Board back to work.
The Nominees:
Scott Mayer currently serves as the Chief Labor Counsel at Boeing Company, where he advises on complex labor-management issues at one of the country’s largest aerospace firms. Mayer has extensive experience in management-side labor relations, having previously worked as the Regional Vice President of Labor & Employee Relations at InterContinental Hotels Group (2019 – 2022), as Vice President of Labor & Employment Legal Counsel at MGM Resorts International (2018 – 2019, and a private practice attorney at the law firms of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (2018) and Blank Rome LLP (1998 -2008). Scott Mayer earned his Juris Doctor from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law in 1998. Prior to that, he completed his Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University in 1995.
James Murphy has extensive experience serving as an internal legal advisor to the Board, beginning with a student clerkship in 1974 and most recently as Kaplan’s Acting Chief Counsel, in 2017. Prior to that, Murphy served as Chief Counsel to former Board members Harry I. Johnson, III (a Republican, but appointed during the Obama Administration), Brian Hayes (Republican), and Peter Schaumber (Republican). Murphy obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1972 and a J.D. from the American University Washington College of Law in 1976.
The Impact:
If confirmed, the addition of Mayer and Murphy would place the Board firmly in Republican control. Mayer’s corporate labor experience and Murphy’s deep institutional background advising prior Republican Board appointees are welcome signs to employers hoping for reconsideration of the precedent-shifting and employee-friendly decisions issued during the Biden administration. Whether the nominees pass the Senate remains to be seen, but their nomination is a positive sign for those eagerly awaiting a return to the management-friendly labor policy that marked Trump’s first term.
As the Senate takes up Mayer and Murphy’s confirmations, labor advocates and employers alike will be watching closely to see how these nominees might reshape the future of labor-management relations in America. Stay tuned for more Vorys on Labor updates.
