Can you legally close a facility in response to unionization?

Almost two months to the day that workers at the College Ave. Starbucks location in Ithaca, New York, voted to unionize, the coffee conglomerate announced its intent to close the store on June 10. Employees claim that the closure was in retaliation for unionization and a post-vote wildcat strike over an overflowed grease trap.

In a tweet, Starbucks stated that the decision to close that store was not "easy" and that it was based on "many factors." The store's workers allege in an NLRB unfair labor practice charge that the only "factor" is illegal retaliation.

Do the employees have an argument? Can a company close a facility in response to unionization? Not surprisingly, it depends.

The 6th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2022” is … the sexual harassment ignorer

All of the following allegedly happened during the mere five weeks that Hannah Navarro worked at a Pratville, Alabama, Chipotle restaurant.

• On Navarro's first day of employment, Nick Baker, the store's general manager, said that she could sit on his lap.
• A few days later Baker told Navarro that she could be his "boo." He then grabbed her arm when she told him that she had a boyfriend and declined.
• Baker (along with other male employees) would pass around pictures of female employees (including Navarro), visit their social media accounts, and make open comments about their bodies at work.

Surveilling your employee’s online activity to out union supporters is illegal … like, really, really illegal

Elon Musk. The name itself evokes a visceral reaction. Electric car visionary. Astronaut wannabe. Opponent of remote work. Potential Twitter owner. Failed SNL host. 

And, according to CNBC, Musk is also a spy, illegally surveilling his employees' online activities during a 2017 and 2018 union organizing drive at one of Tesla's factories.

WIRTW #628: the “summer tour” edition

Outdoor music season is beginning here in Northeast Ohio, which means that my daughter has a bunch of shows booked for the summer … starting this coming Sunday from 4 - 6 pm at Crocker Park.

You’ll find all of the specifics for all of the shows, including locations and, when available, performance times at norahmariemusic.com. Please stop by and say hello.

Here's what I read this past week that I think you should be reading, too.

Mere "discouragement" is enough to state an FMLA interference claim, federal appeals court holds

"You've taken serious amounts of FMLA … don't take any more FMLA. If you do so, you will be disciplined."

That's what Salvatore Ziccarelli, a corrections officer with the Cook County Sheriff's Office suffering from PTSD, claimed that the FMLA manager, Wylola Shinnawi, told him upon expressing his intent to enter an eight-week in-patient treatment program. 

Based on that conversation (the substance of which Shinnawi disputed), Ziccarelli decided to retire … and sue his employer and Shinnawi for FMLA interference.

Do you know? Unfair labor practice strikes

Workers who recently organized a Peoria, Illinois, Starbucks walked off the job on a recent Saturday in protest of alleged unfair labor practice committed by their employer at the store. The strike lasted a half-day and there are reports of similar strikes at other stores around the country.

Week.com quotes one employee on the picket line, Jon Gill, "Starbucks is breaking the law. Starbucks is retaliating against us, and if we do not organize ourselves to fight back, then we are showing Starbucks that we are allowing them to break the law."

Union yes? Employees, be careful what you wish for.

On Jan. 7, Great Lakes Coffee Roasting in Detroit temporarily closed following a Covid outbreak that sidelined nine employees. It never reopened, and now it's closed permanently.

What happened? A labor union happened.