Seyfarth Synopsis: Board panel found that
long-term care facility acted for an "independent unlawful
purpose" when it permanently replaced striking workers
allegedly in order to teach the union and strikers a lesson and to
avoid future strikes.
Ever since the Board's decision in Hot Shoppes,
Inc., 146 NLRB 802 (1964), employers have been permitted to
hire permanent replacement workers for economic strikers almost at
will, unless the union can put forth evidence that the employer was
motivated by an "independent unlawful purpose." An
"independent unlawful purpose" was understood to exist
when an employer's hiring of replacement workers was
"unrelated or extraneous to the strike itself."
Last week, the Board's decision in American Baptist Homes
d/b/a Piedmont Gardens, 364 NLRB No. 13 (2016) extended the
Hot Shoppes' "independent unlawful purpose"
standard to apply to situations where the alleged unlawful purpose
was allegedly related to a desire to avoid future
