Nlra Case Notes

• Publication year: 2024
• Citation: Vol. 38 No. 5
• Author: Hannah Weinstein

NLRA CASE NOTES

AUTHORS^*

Hannah Weinstein

Maria Myers

USSC RESOLVES SPLIT ON PRELIMINARY INJUNCTIONS

Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney, 144 S. Ct. 1570 (2024)

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)¹ prohibits employers and unions from engaging in certain misconduct defined as unfair labor practices. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) enforces this prohibition through an administrative proceeding. Section 10(j) of the NLRA allows the NLRB to seek a preliminary injunction in federal court against the alleged wrongdoer during the full administrative proceedings.

In an 8-1 holding, the U.S. Supreme Court held that federal courts must apply the traditional four-factor test described in Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.² when the NLRB seeks a preliminary injunction under NLRA section 10(j). The Winter test "requires a plaintiff to make a clear showing that he is likely to succeed on the merits, that he is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, that the balance of equities tips in his favor, and that an injunction is in the public interest."

Prior to the Court's decision, there was a circuit split as to which legal test courts must apply when analyzing the NLRB's requests for preliminary injunctions. Some circuits, including the Ninth Circuit, used the four-factor Winter test. Other circuit courts used a less-exacting test, requiring the NLRB to show "reasonable cause" to believe that unfair labor practices occurred and that injunctive relief is just and proper.

In 2022, a union filed unfair labor practice charges against a Starbucks store in Tennessee that terminated employees who invited a local television station to visit their worksite after hours to promote the employees' unionization effort. The NLRB sought an injunction under section 10(j) of the NLRA. Applying the two part reasonable cause test established in Sixth Circuit precedent, the district court granted the injunction, which the Sixth Circuit upheld.

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Sixth Circuit, and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with its opinion. It explained that nothing in the language of section 10(j) displaced the general presumption that Congress intended courts to apply traditional principles of equity—that is, the Winter test—when the NLRB seeks preliminary injunctions under that law. The Court compared the language of section 10(j) to the language of numerous other laws in which it has determined the Winter test is the appropriate standard for seeking injunctive relief.

Partially dissenting but concurring in the judgment, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson agreed that courts must use the Winter test when analyzing requests for preliminary injunctions under the NLRA. However, she cautioned that under other Supreme Court precedent, courts must still honor Congress' intent as to how to apply that test. Justice Jackson then reviewed the history of the Norris-LaGuardia Act³ and the NLRA, explaining that Congress enacted those laws in part to diminish courts' powers to issue injunctions concerning labor disputes, and noting that courts have a limited role in reviewing the NLRB's decisions. She concluded that when assessing the Winter elements regarding the NLRB's likelihood of success on the merits, courts "should be far less searching than normal" and defer to the NLRB's assessment if there is some evidence and an arguable legal theory that weigh in favor of a determination an unfair labor practice was committed.

REMANDED CASE NOT BASIS FOR OVERTURNING RECENT PRECEDENT

Lion Elastomers, LLC v. NLRB, 2024 WL 3342430 (5th Cir., July 9, 2024)

[Page 19]

The Fifth Circuit held the NLRB exceeded the scope of its remand and violated Lion Elastomers' due process rights when it asked for the case to be remanded to apply recent precedent and then issued a decision in the remanded case that overruled that same precedent.

In May 2020, the NLRB issued a decision holding the employer committed unfair labor...