Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

SCOTUSCase
Litigants=Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board
ArgueDate=November 12
ArgueYear=1991
DecideDate=January 27
DecideYear=1992
FullName=Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board
USVol=502
USPage=527
Citation=112 S. Ct. 841; 117 L. Ed. 2d 79; 1992 U.S. LEXIS 555; 60 U.S.L.W. 4145; 120 Lab. Cas. (CCH) P11,066; 139 L.R.R.M. 2225; 92 Cal. Daily Op. Service 743; 92 Daily Journal DAR 1235
Prior=On appeal from the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Subsequent=
Holding=Store owner did not committ unfair labor practice under 8(a)(1) of National Labor Relations Act by barring nonemployee union organizers from parking lot.
SCOTUS=1991-1993
Majority=Thomas
JoinMajority=Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter
Dissent=White, Blackmun, Stevens
LawsApplied=National Labor Relations Act, UnitedStatesCode|29|157

"Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board", 502 U.S. 527 (1992), is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States case on union rights and private property rights. It forbids nonemployee union organizers from soliciting support on private property, except in the case where no reasonable alternatives exist.

Background

Lechmere, Inc. owned a retail store in a shopping plaza in a metropolitan area, and also was part owner of the plaza's parking lot. Employees of Lechmere, Inc. who drove to work used this lot to park their vehicles during their shifts. This parking lot was separated from a public highway by a strip of land which was almost entirely public property. Local union organizers, not employees of Lechmere, Inc., attempted to organize Lechmere employees by placing promotional handbills on the windshields of cars parked in the employee area of the lot. After this, Lechmere denied the organizers access to the lot. This act caused the organizers to instead distribute their handbills from the aforementioned strip of public land between the lot and the highway.

The union filed an unfair labor practice charge to the NLRB (the National Labor Relations Board), claiming that Lechmere had violated §7 of the NLRA (the National Labor Relations Act) by barring them access to the parking lot. The applicable language of the law cited was the guarantee of the NLRA that employees have, "the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations," (§7) and that it is an unfair labor practice for an employer, "to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees" in exercising their §7 rights. The NLRB affirmed the union's grievance, and the Court of Appeals enforced the NLRB's decision.

The Decision

The Supreme Court reversed the lower court's decision based on three primary faults observed with the complaint:

* The NLRA "confers rights only on employees, not on unions or their nonemployee organizers." They reasoned that the NLRA, while guaranteeing that employees would be free to organize if those so chose, the employer is not obligated to allow nonemployee union representatives access to their private property.

* §7 of the NLRA does not apply to nonemployee union organizers except when, "the inaccessibility of employees makes ineffective the reasonable attempts by nonemployees to communicate with them through the usual channels." The Court reasoned it was improper to even begin a balancing test with regards to 7 and private property rights unless "reasonable access to employees is infeasible."

* The union failed in demonstrating that there were any "unique obstacles" that prevented reasonable union access to the employees. The employees did not live in the shopping plaza, so they were not beyond the union's reach, and the Court further reasoned that the mere size of the city itself did not render the employees "inaccessible." The Court cited the fact that the union had been able to directly contact at least 20 employees regarding the organization.

The opinion of the Court was delivered by Justice Thomas, who was joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, and Souter. Justice White filed a dissenting opinion, joined by Justice Blackmun. Justice Stevens filed a separate dissenting opinion.

External links

*caselaw source
case="Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB", 502 U.S. 527 (1992)
enfacto=http://www.enfacto.com/case/U.S./502/527/
findlaw=http://laws.findlaw.com/us/502/527.html