Scott Mayer

Mayer's pre-government career was built entirely on the management side of labor law. He trained at Morgan Lewis & Bockius, one of the country's largest management-side labor practices, then moved through Blank Rome LLP and in-house counsel positions at Aramark, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), and MGM Resorts International before joining Boeing as Chief Labor Counsel in June 2022 ¹. His academic background — Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and Villanova Law — is the standard credentialing path for management-side NLRB practitioners. At Boeing, his portfolio covered NLRB litigation, union contract interpretation, labor arbitrations, and what Boeing termed 'positive employee relations strategy' ¹.

Trump nominated Mayer on July 17, 2025. The Senate HELP Committee held his hearing on October 1, 2025, initially scheduled a vote that was subsequently withdrawn, then advanced him 12-11 on December 3, 2025. The Senate confirmed him December 18, 2025; he was sworn in January 7, 2026, with a term expiring December 16, 2029 ¹. The narrowness of the committee vote — and the fact that it required two attempts — reflected opposition from both Democratic members and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), whose state was then experiencing an active IAM 837 strike at Boeing's St. Louis facility ⁵.

Mayer joins a Board reconstituted under the Trump administration. As of January 7, 2026, the NLRB's three seated members are David Prouty (Democrat, term expires August 2026), James Murphy (Republican, term expires December 2027), and Mayer (Republican, term expires December 2029). Murphy and Mayer hold a 2-1 Republican majority. When Prouty's term expires in August 2026, the Board will again drop below quorum unless a replacement is confirmed.

Mayer's financial disclosure at nomination listed retained Boeing compensation and equity in six categories: stock valued at $5–25 million, employer equity valued at $100–250 million, an executive supplemental savings plan, a 401(k), unvested RSUs valued at $250–500 thousand, and an anticipated bonus ³. At the time the disclosure was filed, his Boeing employment status was listed as 'Present,' meaning his financial exposure to Boeing's stock price and to Boeing's labor litigation outcomes was active during the confirmation process ³.

FEC records provide a second data set on the Boeing financial relationship. Mayer made 50 biweekly contributions of $50 each to The Boeing Company PAC between at least October 2023 and December 18, 2025, with employer listed as BOEING, Arlington, VA ⁴. The contribution series was unbroken: it continued through his July 17, 2025 nomination, his October 1, 2025 Senate hearing, his December 3, 2025 committee advancement, and ended on December 18, 2025 — his Senate confirmation date ⁴. Payroll-deduction PAC contributions of this regularity typically require employer payroll cooperation, suggesting Boeing's payroll infrastructure continued processing these contributions through his confirmation date.

Mayer's transition from Boeing's NLRB representative to a seat on the NLRB is documented in the Board's own case dockets. He is listed as Boeing's attorney of record in Case 19-CA-352164 (The Boeing Company, Region 19, Seattle, filed October 7, 2024), an 8(a)(5) refusal to bargain and bad-faith bargaining charge, and in Case 16-CA-337549 (Region 16, San Antonio, filed March 6, 2024), an 8(a)(1) retaliation and discharge charge. Both cases closed via withdrawal ². His last documented appearance as Boeing's NLRB representative predates his nomination by nine months.

At his October 1, 2025 Senate HELP Committee hearing, Mayer testified he was 'not involved in the negotiations' and 'not serving as a representative to the company at the hearing' in response to questions about the Boeing-IAM 837 strike ⁵. The NLRB case docket showing him as Boeing's representative in Case 19-CA-352164 — filed twelve months before the hearing — was publicly available at the time. Sen. Hawley's opposition to a nominee from his own party's president, on grounds of that nominee's corporate ties, was significant enough to narrow the committee vote to 12-11 and require a second vote attempt ⁵.

His August 28, 2025 ethics agreement (OGE-filed) contains five commitments: resignation from the Boeing Chief Labor Counsel role; forfeiture of unvested RSUs; divestiture of all Boeing stock within 90 days of confirmation (deadline approximately March 18, 2026); non-participation in Boeing matters until divestiture is complete absent a written waiver under 18 USC 208(b)(1); and a 2-year cooling period under 5 CFR 2635.503 running from each RSU vesting date ⁶. The rolling nature of RSU vesting schedules means specific recusal end-dates are unknown without access to his full vesting calendar, and analysis suggests the obligations may extend to 2027–2028 ⁷.

As of March 2026, according to the NLRB's Board Member Recusal Lists page, only a July 2024 recusal list for member David Prouty is available ^{6 7}. No recusal list for Mayer has been published, despite the NLRB's own 2019 Ethics Recusal Report establishing publication as the standard practice for all Board members. Weekly NLRB decision summaries record Mayer's name on published decisions since January 7, 2026; the available record indicates that, without a published recusal list, external verification of his recusal practices is not possible ⁷.