President Obama announced his intent to appoint Sharon Block, Terence Flynn, and Richard Griffin to serve as recess members of the National Labor Relations Board. There is some dispute whether the Congress is in recess and whether the President can go ahead with the appointments, according to some reports.

Block is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor, and was Senior Labor and Employment Counsel for the Senate HELP Committee, where she worked for Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Flynn is currently detailed to serve as Chief Counsel to NLRB Board Member Brian Hayes. Griffin is General Counsel for International Union of Operating Engineers and also serves on the board of directors for the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, a position he has held since 1994.

The recess appointments would bring the NLRB to five members; the Board was last at its full five-member strength in August of 2010.