The employee never mentioned an ongoing labor dispute – and that made all the difference
A federal appeals court ruled that firing a union employee for publicly trashing his employer's product – without tying it to a labor dispute – was lawful.
The decision, handed down on April 28 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, lands squarely in territory that HR and labor relations professionals deal with regularly: where does protected employee speech end and terminable disloyalty begin?
Oncor Electric Delivery Company, a Texas utility, began rolling out digital smart meters in 2008. The devices tracked electricity usage remotely and eliminated the need for technicians to read meters in person. The rollout led to layoffs, raising concerns among unions representing utility workers. Customers pushed back too, mostly over potential health effects from the meters' radio frequencies.
By 2012, the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee held a hearing to address smart meters' effects on health.
Bobby Reed, an Oncor technician and the chief spokesperson for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union No. 69, showed up to testify. The day before, he had been at the bargaining table with Oncor trying to extend a collective bargaining agreement. Reed had told Oncor's representatives that if they could not make a deal, he would testify about smart meters at the hearing. No deal was reached.
At the hearing, Reed identified himself as an...
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