Law Commons^™

Banning The Buttons: Employer Interference With The Right To Wear Union Insignia In The Workplace, John W. Teeter Jr

Faculty Articles

The right for workers to wear union insignia without fear of retaliation in the workplace has been constricted, undermined, and jeopardized by judicial and National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) decisions. As a consequence, at least three problems arise: (1) litigation over this issue increases as the law becomes increasingly opaque; (2) workers are wrongfully denied the opportunity to proclaim their union sympathies; and (3) the Board and courts send an implicit message that the freedom to express union support is a second-class right that employers may override by offering a pretextual justification. This subordination of the right to wear union …