The National Labor Relations Act (the “NLRA”) grants employees of most private employers the right to engage in collective bargaining. 29 U.S.C. §§ 151 et.seq. To help fulfill that right, the NLRA prohibits both employers and employees from engaging in a number of specified “unfair labor practices” that would work to diminish the fair exercise of the right to collectively bargain. 29 U.S.C. § 158. The NLRA goes on to grant an administrative agency, the National Labor Relations Board, the exclusive authority to try “unfair labor practice” cases. 29 U.S.C. § 160. However, if the Board petitions a federal trial court for a pre-trial injunction, the NLRA authorizes that court to “grant to the Board such temporary relief or restraining order as it deems just and proper.” 29 U.S.C. § 160(j). In Starbucks v. NLRB, decided on June 13, 2024, the Court ruled that federal trial courts owe no special deference to the Board under the NLRA when they act on a Board petition for a pre-trial injunction, , and that the trial court should judge the Board’s petition pursuant to the same criteria the judge would ordinarily use to judge any other litigant’s application for a pre-trial injunction. The vote on the Court was 8-1, with Justice Jackson dissenting.
COMMENT: 29 U.S.C. § 160(j) is ambiguous by itself, but in its overall context within the within the NLRA, the National Labor Relations Board has been given no special procedural privileges when it seeks a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction before it tries an unfair labor practice case on its factual and legal merits.
Dan Rhea
RECENT RULINGS 