The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit), often referred to as the most influential federal court after the Supreme Court, ruled recently that an employer unlawfully reprimanded an employee for sending a union-related mass email to hundreds of colleagues through her work-provided email. Although the email was sent in violation of company policy, the court pointed out that the employer didn’t take issue with numerous other mass emails sent by employees unrelated to union activity.
In CWA v. NLRB, No. 20-1112 (D.C. Cir. July 23, 2021), the appeals court reversed a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in T-Mobile USA, 369 NLRB No. 50 (2020). In that case, the Board found that the employer didn’t violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) because the union-related mass email was for the employee’s personal benefit and therefore “not similar in character” to other mass emails the Board said were tied to a business interest of the employer. The court found, however, that the employer’s policy prohibiting “mass communication for any non-business purpose” made no such distinction.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.