NEWS & ANALYSIS

By Braden Campbell

Employers that tell workers during organizing drives that having a union would cut off direct relationships with managers may violate federal labor law, the National Labor Relations Board said Friday in a decision reversing nearly 40-year-old precedent. 

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks violated federal labor law by excluding unionized stores from a new benefit in four states under which it paid workers at nonunion stores weekly instead of biweekly, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, finding the coffee chain couldn't excuse its actions by promising to bargain in good faith.

By Tim Ryan

The Sixth Circuit was divided Thursday over Starbucks' challenge to a National Labor Relations Board order finding the coffee giant unlawfully fired a worker at a Michigan cafe, with the judges probing the limits of the board's power to remedy unfair labor practices.

By Tim Ryan

Starbucks violated federal labor law by issuing discipline to a worker for wearing a union shirt on the job, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Friday, saying the company previously allowed workers to wear nonunion apparel without punishment.

By Emily Brill

The National Labor Relations Board should have accepted Starbucks' challenge to an agency judge's order even though it was 23 minutes late, the company told the D.C. Circuit, saying the lateness was connected to a technical issue and should have been considered innocuous.

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks should be ordered to bargain with Workers United at a Long Island, New York, cafe under the National Labor Relations Board's Cemex standard, an administrative law judge ruled Monday, finding the coffee giant illegally threatened and questioned workers in the lead-up to a representation vote.

By Emily Brill

The Eighth Circuit should reject Starbucks' "groundless" challenge to the well-established standard for determining when employers' statements constitute unlawful threats, the National Labor Relations Board has argued, asking the court to enforce the board's holding that a store manager threatened unionizing workers by saying they might not get raises.

By Braden Campbell

The campaign to unionize Starbucks has notched its 500th win a little over three years after its public debut, reaching this milestone as a changed but potent movement that continues to expand as it inches toward its first contracts, experts said.

By Tim Ryan

Starbucks violated federal labor law by more strictly enforcing several policies at two California cafes after workers organized with a union, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, including barring off-duty workers from accessing back areas of the store.

By Beverly Banks

Two Starbucks baristas trying to oust Workers United from stores in the Buffalo, New York, area told the D.C. Circuit to revive their challenge to removal protections for National Labor Relations Board members, arguing a lower court wrongly found the workers lacked standing.

By Beverly Banks

The National Labor Relations Board and Starbucks ended litigation in a Colorado federal court of agency prosecutors' request for a nationwide injunction to stop the coffee chain from firing workers for their union activities.

By Rachel Riley

A Washington appellate commissioner gave Starbucks another chance to end a shareholder suit accusing the company's leadership of turning a blind eye to union-busting by managers, saying the lawsuit appears "premature" since it mostly relies on unfair labor practice complaints that are still pending.

By Emily Brill

Starbucks told workers in Bellingham, Washington, they would lose access to tuition-free online classes at Arizona State University and potentially higher wages if they unionized, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, ordering the company to stop threatening to rescind employees' benefits if they organize.

By Braden Campbell

Starbucks violated federal labor law by punishing one Illinois worker for missing work to fulfill a National Labor Relations Board subpoena and sending another home for clashing with customers who disrupted a labor protest, the board said Wednesday.

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks must rescind a rule barring the distribution of union materials at a Seattle cafe, the National Labor Relations Board determined, backing an agency judge's conclusions that the coffee giant violated federal labor law by telling workers not to share these items and throwing union pins away.

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Third Circuit panel on Wednesday struggled to find agreement between Starbucks Corp. and the National Labor Relations Board on the scope of the agency's power to penalize companies for violating employees' rights, as it considered the coffee chain's challenge to the agency's penalties over its firing of two unionizing workers.

By Law360 Staff

Starbucks violated federal labor law by closing two stores in Ithaca, New York last year in retaliation for workers' union activity, a National Labor Relations Board judge found, rejecting the coffee giant's arguments that the closures were due to staff turnover and recommending that the company be ordered to reopen the locations.

By Beverly Banks

An agency judge rightly cleared Starbucks of claims that the company unlawfully denied an Illinois employee's bids to transfer stores, the National Labor Relations Board concluded, pointing to evidence that the company blocked one request because of the worker's availability.

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks unlawfully texted a worker with questions about union organizing at a Minneapolis cafe, the National Labor Relations Board concluded, nixing the coffee giant's argument that such queries via text message are "inherently less coercive."

By Beverly Banks

A Starbucks manager at a Tennessee cafe illegally told a worker that employees became untrustworthy after union organizing efforts sprang up, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled, saying a reasonable employee would consider the remarks a threat of retaliation.