UFCW 400 Members Affected by High Court Ruling
Thursday, July 10, 2014(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
The
ripple effect for employers, workers and unions
seeking legal clarity is huge,
in the wake of the Supreme Court’s
recent decision on presidential recess powers.
The justices unanimously ruled
that President Obama’s appointments to the
NLRB in 2012 and 2013 were invalid,
as were all the decisions they helped hand down
while serving. Among the cases
affected by the decision are those of UFCW
Local 400 members Maria Yliquin and
Esam Amireh, who the NLRB in June 2013 found to
be wrongfully fired by Fresh
& Green’s (which has since gone out of
business). The company then appealed
the case to the D.C. Circuit Court, where it
hung, in limbo, as the recess
appointment case made its way to the high
court. Now, the Circuit Court is
likely to send the case back to the NLRB to be
reheard, restarting the whole
process. “What that means is more delay,”
said union lawyer Carey Butsavage.
“There are already intolerable delays for
employees trying to exercise their
labor rights.” Nevertheless, “We’re going
to continue to fight,” Butsavage
promised.
- adapted from Chloe Johnson’s 6/26 report in The Washington
Times