Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

Background

Local 919 of the United Food and Commercial Workers tried to organize 200 employees at a Lechmere retail store in a Connecticut shopping plaza. Nonemployee union organizers put handbills on cars in the store’s parking lot and were told to leave under Lechmere’s no-soliciting policy. The organizers then stood on a public grassy strip next to the lot, picketed, recorded some license plates, and mailed or visited several employees, obtaining one signed card. The National Labor Relations Board and a federal appeals panel sided with the union and ordered access to the parking lot.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act lets nonemployee organizers enter private employer property. The majority reaffirmed an older rule that Section 7 protects employees, not outsiders, and that nonemployee access is allowed only where employees are truly inaccessible by ordinary means. The Court found Lechmere’s workers were reachable through mailings, phone calls, home visits, signs, and picketing from the public strip. Because reasonable off-property means existed, the Board’s order was reversed and Lechmere could keep its no-solicit rule.

Real world impact

The decision makes it easier for private employers, including stores and shopping centers, to exclude nonemployee organizers from their property. Unions must rely on off-property methods to contact employees unless they can show employees are effectively isolated. The ruling limits the Board’s Jean Country balancing approach and clarifies a narrower exception for access.

Dissents or concurrances

Two Justices dissented, arguing the Board’s balancing test was reasonable and courts should defer to the agency’s interpretation.