Twenty-Four Hour Rule Law and Legal Definition
Employers and Unions are prohibited from making election speeches on company time to massed assemblies of employees within 24 hours before the scheduled time for conducting an election [Peerless Plywood Co. 107 NLRB 427, 33 LRRM 1151 (1953)]. Violation of this rule will cause the election to be set aside whenever valid objections are filed.
The rule was enacted to prevent last-minute speeches from having an unsettling effect and interfering with a free election. Such tactic is an unfair advantage to the party having the last word and it makes no difference whether the remarks have a coercive effect or not, if addressed to employees gathered on company time. However, the rule ". . . does not prohibit employees or unions from making campaign speeches on or off company premises during the 24-hour period if employee attendance is voluntary and on the employee's own time."
