The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously sided with Starbucks in a challenge to a lower court ruling that tried to force the coffee chain to rehire employees fired for actions taken during their attempt to unionize. The decision marks a major defeat for the federal agency backing the former employees.
The entire legal saga started in 2022 after several Memphis-based Starbucks employees announced plans to unionize, at which point they “invited a news crew from a local television station to visit the store after hours to promote their unionizing effort.” Starbucks argued these actions violated company policy and fired the workers in response.
This prompted the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a federal agency that oversees labor disputes, to file an administrative complaint on behalf of the fired employees against the coffee chain alleging it had “engaged in unfair labor practices.” NLRB’s regional director subsequently filed a legal motion under the National Labor Relations Act requesting the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee implement a preliminary injunction “for the duration of the administrative proceedings that would, among other things, require Starbucks to reinstate the fired employees.”
When considering the motion, the district court utilized a two-part test to determine whether the NLRB was entitled to file such a petition, namely whether “there is reasonable cause to believe that unfair labor practices have occurred,” and if injunctive relief is “just and proper.” The district court ultimately granted the petition for injunction, which the Sixth Circuit Court of
