Takeaway: Employers are at serious risk of contempt rulings when they fail to comply with orders from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Partial compliance is insufficient. Ignoring an NLRB order—as well as subsequent court orders enforcing it—may well lead to a finding of civil contempt.
Noting that parties ignore court orders at their peril, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a Wisconsin business in contempt for its refusal to comply fully with a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) order entered in response to the company's wrongful termination of an employee who had concerns about COVID-19, as well as its disregard of two earlier orders entered by the court.
An employee had approached the company's co-owner and director of operations in May 2020 to discuss her concerns that the employer, a spa salon, was not sufficiently protecting her and other employees from COVID-19. The co-owner was not receptive to the employee's suggestions. The employee then sent a staffwide e-mail criticizing the co-owner's handling of COVID-19 health risks, and he fired her.
When the co-owner heard that the employee had complained to the NLRB about her termination, he threatened legal action against her and her family.
Following a hearing, an NLRB administrative law judge (ALJ) found the employer had unlawfully terminated and threatened the employee in violation of the National Labor Relations Act. The ALJ recommended that the NLRB order the employer to compensate the employee...
The 11th Circuit has upheld the constitutionality of the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions, joining other federal appeals courts that have decided the question and reversing a ruling that had ...