D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals victory for independent-minded Hawaii hotel workers

News Release from National Right to Work, June 18, 2018

Today a unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected the Obama National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) opinion that union officials’ forced dues threats did not violate the rights of Hawaii hotel workers.

The case was brought by several nonmember employees at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Hawaii who received a letter from union officials demanding payment of dues for which the union had no legal claim, and threating that failure to pay would result in the money being deducted from future paychecks. In fact, the union did have the money illegally deducted.

The workers filed unfair labor practice charges with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. After the Obama NLRB asserted that the union’s demand letter was a “mistake” and therefore not illegal, Foundation staff attorneys appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and argued the case before a three judge panel.

Today, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals strongly rejected the NLRB’s decision as “legally unsupportable” and remanded the case back to the NLRB with orders to reconsider the decision. 

National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens issued the following statement about today’s decision:

“This is an important victory against the type of coercion that independent-minded employees are all too frequently subjected to by union bosses. While it’s unfortunate that it has taken so long, we are pleased that these Foundation-aided workers are now a step closer to getting justice that the Obama Labor Board attempted to deny them.”

“The total rejection by this unanimous Appeals Court panel of NLRB Member Pearce’s majority opinion that defended blatantly unlawful union demands for payment is evidence of just how radical the Obama NLRB was when it came to allowing union officials to trample the rights of workers who don’t want to associate with a union.”

---30---

Link: Court Ruling