On May 26, 2020, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys appealed a forced settlement agreement between the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Tygart Center levied on healthcare worker Donna Harper. Harper rejected to the imposed settlement due to its failure to provide a complete solution for her and other workers who faced discriminated under the union bargaining agreement between Tygart Center and Teamsters Local 175.
In the settlement, Tygart Center agreed to stop enforcing an illegal contract provision where Teamsters union stewards more compensation per hour than other employees. However, Foundation attorneys argued in their appeal to NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb that the settlement does not mandate Tygart Center to pay the employees who did not receive additional hourly pay as a consequence of the discriminatory action.
“The Employer and Union unlawfully discriminated in favor of Union stewards, granting them an increased wage in the [union contract] while denying that wage to all others,” one part of the appeal stated. “This action denied a benefit to every employee who was not a Union steward.”
On top of that, Foundation staff attorneys filed an amicus brief for Harper with the West Virginia Supreme Court to uphold the state’s Right to Work law against a drawn-out lawsuit that a number of unions attempting to repeal the law and restore union officials’ power to have workers fired for ceasing payment of union dues or fees.
On April 21, the West Virginia Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutionality of West Virginia’s Right to Work law.
“Union bosses in West Virginia want nothing more than to coerce workers into paying dues either by misleading workers by wrongly telling them they must pay union dues or by trying unsuccessfully to overturn the state’s Right to Work law in court,” remarked National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Foundation staff attorneys are ensuring that employers and union bosses in the Mountain State do not get away with illegal deals to fill union coffers or unlawfully discriminate against employees who choose to exercise their rights to not engage in union activity.”
