Ruling by D.C. Circuit in Constellium v. NLRB Lends Credence to Notion That Blatantly Offensive Speech Should Not Be Protected Under Federal Labor Law

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has ruled that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) failed to consider the conflict between an employer’s obligations under federal civil rights statutes and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when the Board found that the employer violated the NLRA for firing a worker who wrote “whore board” on overtime sign-up sheets.

The D.C. Circuit’s ruling in Constellium Rolled Products Ravenswood, LLC v. NLRB, Nos. 18-1300, 18-1322 (D.C. Cir. Dec. 31, 2019), gives credence to the Board’s recent decision to review (and potentially revise) its current controversial standard that shields offensive speech as protected under the NLRA.

A copy of the court’s decision is available online.

Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.