Southern New England Telephone v. NLRB, No. 11-1099 (D.C. Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseThe NLRB ruled that AT&T committed an unfair labor practice by barring its employees from wearing union shirts that say "Inmate" and "Prisoner" while interacting with customers or working in public. The court concluded that, while Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), 29 U.S.C. 157, protects the right of employees to wear union apparel at work, there is a special circumstances exception to that general rule. The court held that a company may lawfully prohibit its employees from displaying messages on the job that the company reasonably believes may harm its relationship with its customers or its public image. In this case, it was reasonable for AT&T to believe that the “Inmate/Prisoner” shirts may harm AT&T’s relationship with its customers or its public image. Thus, AT&T lawfully prohibited its employees from wearing the shirt. The court granted AT&T's petition for review, vacated the Board's decision and order with respect to these shirts, and denied the cross-application for enforcement.
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