Saying "You're Fired" Could Bring Labor Pains

An Ohio employer recently learned the hard way that employers need to be cautious when it comes to communicating with striking employees about permanent replacements. By mistakenly telling them that their employment had been "terminated," the employer has been ordered to pay out a large sum of money to the striking workers, and – worse yet – hire them back. The lessons learned from this case can help you avoid the same fate (Tri-State Wholesale Building Supplies v. NLRB).

Strike Replacement Law In An Unsettling State

Earlier this summer, employers received a labor shocker when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held for the first time that an employer violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by hiring permanent replacements during an economic strike to punish striking employees and to avoid future strikes (read more here). By delivering this holding in the American Baptist Homes of the West case, the Board overturned decades of precedent allowing