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Cooling-off Period
Practical Law Glossary Item 1-517-3014 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Cooling-off Period
Under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), a period when parties that are at a collective bargaining impasse are prohibited from engaging in self help. In particular, when a National Mediation Board (NMB) mediator cannot break the impasse and the parties cannot agree to participate in interest arbitration, the NMB starts a 30-day cooling-off period by notifying the parties in writing that mediation has failed.
During the cooling-off period:
- The parties can:
- continue to negotiate; or
- agree to arbitrate.
- The parties cannot engage in self help.
- A presidential emergency board may be created.
When a presidential emergency board is formed:
- It provides recommendations to resolve the impasse through the NMB.
- The initial cooling-off period is extended indefinitely.
If either party rejects the presidential emergency board's recommendations, a final 30-day cooling-off period begins to run.
For more information, see Practice Note, Railway Labor Act: Overview.