Jackson Lewis LLP, on behalf of the Retail Litigation Center, Inc., has filed with the National Labor Relations Board a "friend-of-the-court" brief urging the Board to limit non-employee union agents' right to access store property to communicate to shoppers the union's disagreement with the way the retailer is operating. The brief asks the NLRB to limit such access only to cases where the employer has allowed like conduct by other individuals and groups, so that the union has been singled out for adverse treatment.
The action came in a case involving Roundy's, Inc., a supermarket operator in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The retail chain had sought to prevent a carpenters' union from handbilling shoppers on store grounds to protest the supermarket's use of a non-union contractor to perform renovations and asking the public not to shop at the store. The Board had invited interested parties to submit briefs in the matter. (See our article, NLRB to Decide on Union Access to Employer Property.)
Almost two decades ago, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed a retailer's right to exclude unwanted intruders from its property, subject only to certain limited exceptions. Jackson Lewis' amicus curiae brief for the retail industry argues that the 2007 Board decision in Register-Guard presents the best way to analyze the "discrimination exception" raised in Roundy's. The brief says the Board's earlier decision enables retail employers to control access to their property by non-employee union agents.
The Retail Litigation Center participates in selected federal and state cases affecting issues of importance to the retail industry. The Center provides the retail industry with an opportunity to be heard on important legal questions and helps inform courts and administrative agencies of the potential effects of their decisions on the industry.
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