In a welcome decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, often referred to as the second most influential federal court after the U.S. Supreme Court, the D.C. Circuit declined to rubber stamp a decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that an employer violated federal labor law when it fired an employee for making disparaging comments about the company in a public forum.
The court’s decision in Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC v. NLRB, No. 16-1278 (D.C. Cir. April 13, 2018), sends the case back to the NLRB with instructions to the Board to explain the principles it applies when affording protection to employees who publicly insult their employer. In this case, the employee was fired after his employer concluded he had given willfully false testimony on behalf of his union before a Texas legislative committee.
A copy of the D.C. Circuit’s decision in Oncor Electric is available here.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.