News & Commentary February 10, 2023

[Omaha Steve]

https://onlabor.org/february-10-2023/

By Julio Colby

Julio Colby is a student at Harvard Law School.

In today’s News and Commentary, Starbucks violated labor law by threatening several workers and firing one at a Colorado store; the Fifth Circuit appears open to creating a religious carveout for Title VII’s anti-LGBTQ discrimination protection; the Ninth Circuit is hearing a farmworker case involving a California “client employer” law which could expand liability for employers in contracting relationships.

On Monday, an NLRB judge found that Starbucks violated federal labor law by threatening union-supporting workers at a Colorado store and by giving final warnings to two union organizers and firing one of them. Despite the interference, workers at the Denver store voted 13-0 to join Starbucks Workers United last year. Judge Amita Baman Tracy found that anti-union animus motivated the threats and firing, and that the company’s service of subpoenas to employees requesting their affidavits was “inherently coercive.” But Judge Tracy declined to find that the store’s captive audience meetings were unlawful under the NLRA, choosing to “follow current Board law” despite the General Counsel’s argument, in her brief for the case and a memo last year, that these meetings are unlawful under the Act. The judge ordered Starbucks to rescind its warnings and reinstate the fired worker with backpay and associated expenses. Lawyers for the company maintain that the actions were valid and are considering options “to obtain a full legal review of the matter.”

FULL story at link above.