Tschiggfrie Properties, Ltd. v. NLRB, No. 17-1450 (8th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe Eighth Circuit granted the employee's petition for review of the Board's order finding that the company violated sections 8(a)(1) and (3) of the National Labor Relations Act. The employee argued that it did not fire an employee for union activity in violation of the NLRA, but that he was fired for misusing the employee's Wi-Fi and sleeping on the job. The court held that the Board did not hold the General Counsel to its burden of proving that discriminatory animus toward the employee's protected conduct was a substantial or motivating factor in the decision to discharge him. The court also held that the Board erred in determining the employer's post-termination interviews of the discharged employee's co-worker were an unfair labor practice as the questioning could not be said to reasonably tend to unlawfully coerce the interviewee. Therefore, the parts of the petition addressing the warning was enforced, but the Board's findings about the firing and the interviews were set aside. The court remanded for the district court to apply Wright Line to determine whether the company violated the Act in terminating the employee.
Court Description: Benton, Author, with Kelly and Stras, Circuit Judges] Petition for Review - National Labor Relations Board. The Board addressed petitioner's argument regarding nexus between activity and termination, and the issue was preserved for the court's review; with respect to the merits of the argument, the General Counsel meets its initial burden under Wright Line only if it proves the employee's protected conduct was a substantial or motivating factor in the adverse action; here, the Board did not hold the General Counsel to its burden of proving that discriminatory animus toward the employee's protected conduct was a substantial or motivating factor in the decision to discharge him; the court remands the matter to the Board to apply the Wright Line analysis consistent with this opinion; the Board erred in determining the employer's post-termination interviews of the discharged employee's co-worker were an unfair labor practice as the questioning could not be said to reasonably tend to unlawfully coerce the interviewee.
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