Posts tagged 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Starbucks anti-unionization case brought by NLRB narrowed by US appeals court
September 9, 2026 // Circuit Judge Stephen Higginson said statements about the hiring portal and store hours were not "threats of reprisal" because a hiring pause didn't appear to imperil employees' job security, while understaffing might have justified shorter hours. He also said store manager Carmella Neri's statements that she knew about unionization discussions and that employees should keep in mind the impact of a successful vote were not coercive, saying the statements were not "out of the ordinary."
US judges leery of NLRB ruling that ex-Starbucks CEO illegally threatened union supporter
December 4, 2025 // “It does seem to me that this is sort of a gotcha by the board,” said Southwick, an appointee of Republican former President George W. Bush. “The board is looking very narrowly on what the context here was.”
Amazon and Elon Musk’s SpaceX challenge labor agency’s constitutionality in federal court
November 20, 2024 // Attorneys for Amazon and Elon Musk’s SpaceX argued in a federal appeals court Monday that the National Labor Relations Board’s structure is unconstitutional, advancing a legal fight that may last into the Trump administration where Musk is expected to oversee bureaucratic cost-cutting. A panel of three judges at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard separate oral arguments in the SpaceX and Amazon lawsuits, which the two companies initiated after the labor agency filed complaints against them in disputes about workers’ rights and union organizing.