The NLRB recently opened a can of “Fool Around, Find Out!” on the non-compliant owners of a salon for failing to comply with a Board remedy order.
The National Labor Relations Board is a quasi-judicial body. Still, if any company loosely interprets the “quasi” as an excuse to defy orders, this will not end well if that company is also tempted to disregard a court’s enforcement of the Board’s orders rather than proceed with proper review procedures; oh boy.
That’s practically an invitation for the Board to make an example of the defiance, and the results will not be glamorous. In this case, the owners of a company opened their doors to find the U.S. Marshal Service with handcuffs in tow.
Surprising? Of course. Dramatic? Indeed, and that’s by design.
It’s the sort of case that eventually inspires the NLRB to issue a triumphant Sept. 13, 2023, statement with flashy quotes from General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo:
“This case demonstrates the Agency’s vigorous pursuit of justice. Employers should be on notice that they can face steep consequences if they continue to skirt the law, including being taken into custody until they comply. Violators of the Act should promptly comply with Board orders to quickly remedy their unlawful activities and dissipate the adverse effects they had upon workers.”
Two Wisconsin salon/spa owners found this out the hard way after deciding not to comply with a 2021 order to reinstate a worker who the Board determined was wrongfully fired. The worker had criticized the company’s 2020 policies about COVID-19 with an email blast to other workers. That surely put everyone in an awkward situation, but when the Board’s directive came down, the owners ignored the reinstatement order. They also disregarded the order to deliver back pay and an apology to the worker, scrub termination references from her file, and provide workers with a notice of employee rights.
The initial orders themselves aren’t shocking. The NLRB regularly issues remedial orders of reinstatement and back pay in cases like these. It feels like an almost monthly occurrence for the Board to use this procedure to order Starbucks to rehire union activists.
Granted, it would be understandable in 2023 for business owners to feel tempted to push back against a politically motivated Board. Biden’s agendas have resulted in recent sweeping changes that portend drastic effects on workplace practices and threaten management’s right to run their businesses.
Yet these salon owners seemingly went through a great deal of effort to achieve years of non-compliance. The Board asserted that they evaded process servers, which led to contempt charges and $30,000 in fines and attorney fees. An exaggerated display of defiance triggered a theatrical display of the Board’s hardline stance.
Following the arrest, the salon’s owners vowed to comply with the NLRB’s original orders and were released by a judge, albeit with an expensive mistake on their hands. It’s a lesson to all to be prepared for strenuous enforcement of the NLRB’s orders and respond accordingly.
