The National Labor Relations Board on Monday retreated from its drive to overturn the Obama-era expanded "joint employment" standard, as questions mounted over whether a Trump-appointed member of the board violated ethics rules when he participated in a pending case.

The NLRB inspector general, David Berry, said in a report this month that William Emanuel should not have voted in the Hy-Brand case to overturn the Obama-era joint-employment standard. Berry said Emanuel's vote in the case revealed a "serious and flagrant" ethics problem at the agency. Emanuel's former law firm, Littler Mendelson, represented a party in the Obama-era case the Hy-Brand ruling overturned.

Chairman Marvin Kaplan, along with his Democratic colleagues Mark Gaston Pearce and Lauren McFerran, voted unanimously Monday to vacate the Hy-Brand decision. The move returns the board to the Obama-era precedent set in Browning-Ferris Industries, which opened a wider door for holding companies accountable for franchisees and contractors.