The National Labor Relations Board is following the lead of federal courts on e-filing. General counsel Peter Robb has issued a memo requiring all documents submitted in cases before the agency to be filed electronically on the agency's website.

The Monday memo instructs all regions to no longer accept documents emailed directly to agency personnel, as had been done in the past.

Lori Armstrong Halber, employment law partner in Reed Smith's Philadelphia and Princeton, New Jersey, offices, told Corporate Counsel on Tuesday that most major companies and their counsel are familiar with e-filing.

Smaller companies and smaller unions, she said, may not be as familiar with the process and will need more time to adjust.

The e-filing requirement is effective immediately, the memo said, but all agency offices were told to allow a 90-day grace period to accommodate parties adjusting to the transition.

The deadline when paper, fax and emails will no longer be accepted is Jan. 21.

Halber said the labor board "is in some ways behind the times, since all federal courts have had e-fling for some time."

The main benefit for her, she said, is she gains more filing time if a deadline is tight. Normally, she explained, a filing is due in the office by close of business. But e-filing allows attorneys to file until midnight.

Robb's office declined comment, but his memo explains the benefits for the agency. "Electronic filing provides a streamlined procedure by which documents received by the agency will be placed and stored in the appropriate files automatically, [ensuring] both the integrity and accuracy of regional office case files," it says.

The memo says the automated filing will reduce the time spent by regional office employees on scanning or making sure that documents are in the appropriate case file. The process also will allow employees to devote more time to substantive case-handling matters, Robb wrote.

Exceptions to the rule include filing of unfair labor practice charges or petitions in representation proceedings. In those two cases, parties have a choice between e-filing, or continuing to use regular mail, personal delivery or fax.

The agency posted instructions for e-filing on its website.