A recent action by the National Labor Relations Board to try to impose its jurisdiction on the casino operated by the California-based Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians has revived interest in a bill in Congress that would specifically exempt all tribal businesses from national labor laws.
In writing that Viejas violated the law by paying smaller bonuses to union members, NLRB Administrative Law Judge Mara-Louise Anzalone wrote on October 11, “The Board has repeatedly asserted jurisdiction over Tribal-owned and operated casinos,” adding that, “the vast majority of both customers and employees of the casino operation are not members of the Tribe.”
Anzalone cited a 2007 involving the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino in which an appellate court held that the NLRB could regulate labor disputes, in spite of tribal sovereignty. Anzalone wrote that such oversight would not implicate the Tribe’s right to self-governance because the casino operation is a commercial enterprise in interstate commerce that plays no direct role in…matters such as tribal membership, inheritance rules and domestic relations.”
The House nearly a year ago passed a bill that would exclude “Native Americans or their commercial enterprises” from national labor law. The Senate has so far failed to act on the bill.
