Sept 27 (Reuters) - Amazon.com ( AMZN ) on Friday said it will

ask a U.S. appeals court to block the National Labor Relations

Board from ruling on whether the company must bargain with a

union at a New York City warehouse while it pursues a challenge

to the agency's structure.

Amazon ( AMZN ) in a notice of appeal filed in San Antonio, Texas,

federal court said U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez's delay

in deciding whether to grant the company a temporary injunction

amounted to a "constructive denial" that can be reviewed by the

New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Amazon ( AMZN ) had moved for a preliminary injunction on Sept. 10, a

few days after it sued the NLRB.

Rodriguez, an appointee of Republican former President

George W. Bush, held a hearing on the motion on Tuesday.

The NLRB is currently considering claims that Amazon ( AMZN ) has

illegally refused to bargain with a union representing workers

at the Staten island warehouse known as JFK8, which is the first

in the company's history.

The board in August upheld the results of the 2022 election

at JFK8, rejecting Amazon's ( AMZN ) claims that it was tainted by

demonstrations held by workers and union organizers and that

board officials who oversaw the voting were biased toward the

union.

Amazon ( AMZN ) has faced scores of NLRB complaints accusing the

company of illegal union-busting tactics at warehouses across

the country, including firing union supporters, making threats,

and holding mandatory anti-union meetings. Amazon ( AMZN ) has denied

wrongdoing.

The company on Friday said that its final brief in the JFK8

case was due later in the day, meaning the board could issue a

ruling as soon as Monday.

"The bell will have been rung, a decision will have been

issued, and this simply cannot be undone. This is the

irreparable injury that Amazon ( AMZN ) is seeking to prevent in the

first place," the company's lawyers wrote.

An NLRB spokeswoman declined to comment. The board has asked

Rodriguez to transfer Amazon's ( AMZN ) lawsuit to the Eastern District

of New York, which covers the Staten Island warehouse at the

center of the case.

The lawsuit is one of about 20 pending in courts around the

country to claim that the NLRB's in-house enforcement

proceedings violate the U.S. Constitution and to seek to block

administrative cases from proceeding before the NLRB.

Elon Musk's SpaceX has asked the 5th Circuit to review what

it says was the constructive denial of an injunction by a judge

in Brownsville, Texas, in one of two lawsuits that the rocket

maker has filed challenging the NLRB's powers.

A different judge in Texas granted SpaceX a temporary

injunction in its second case in July, and two other federal

judges in the state have blocked board cases in similar

challenges by other businesses. The NLRB is appealing those

decisions.

Meanwhile, federal judges in Chicago, Washington, D.C.,

Detroit, and Connecticut have rejected similar arguments against

the NLRB in lawsuits by employers facing board cases.

The case is Amazon.com Services v. NLRB, U.S. District Court

for the Western District of Texas, No. 5:24-cv-01000.

For Amazon ( AMZN ): Kurt Larkin and Amber Rogers of Hunton Andrews

Kurth

For the NLRB: Tyler Wiese, Christine Flack, and Michael Dale

Read more:

Amazon ( AMZN ) challenges US labor board's structure in lawsuit over

union election

Amazon ( AMZN ) gets labor board complaint on failure to bargain with

New York union

Amazon ( AMZN ) loses challenge to union's election win at NYC

warehouse

SpaceX wins block on US labor board case over severance

agreements

US judge blocks NLRB case against energy firm challenging

agency's structure

US judge rejects medical center's bid to 'neuter' NLRB

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York)