Bill Johnson's Restaurants, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board (461 U.S. 731)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 31, 1983 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 461 U.S. 731 · 103 S. Ct. 2161
- Decided
- May 31, 1983
- Term
- October Term 1982
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice White
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice White delivered the opinion of the Court. We must decide whether the National Labor Relations Board may issue a cease-and-desist order to halt the prosecution of a state-court civil suit brought by an employer to retaliate against employees for exercising federally protected labor rights, without also finding that the suit lacks a reasonable basis in fact or law. I The present controversy arises out of a labor dispute at “Bill Johnson’s Big Apple East,” one of four restaurants owned and operated by the petitioner in Phoenix, Ariz. It began on August 8, 1978, when petitioner fired Myrland Helton, one of the most senior waitresses at the restaurant. Believing that her termination was the result of her efforts to organize a union, she filed unfair labor practice charges against the restaurant with the Board. On September 20, after an investigation, the Board’s General Counsel issued a complaint. On the same day, Helton, joined by three co-waitresses and a few others, picketed the restaurant. The picketers carried signs asking customers to boycott the restaurant because its management was unfair to the waitresses. Petitioner’s manager confronted the picketers and threatened to “get even” with them “if it’s the last thing I do.” Petitioner’s president telephoned the husband of one of the picketing waitresses and impliedly threatened that the couple would “get hurt” and…
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