National Labor Relations Board v. Pier Sixty, LLC

Pier Sixty, LLC (defendant) operated a catering company. At one point, many of the company’s service employees wanted to unionize. For months, management was hostile to the unionization efforts. Two days before the vote on whether to unionize, Hernan Perez (plaintiff) was working as a server at a Pier Sixty event. Perez’s supervisor, Bob, issued directives in a harsh tone to Perez and two other servers, which Perez viewed as characteristic of management’s continuously disrespectful attitude toward employees. On an authorized work break, Perez made an obscene post on his personal social-media page (“Bob is such a NASTY MOTHER FUCKER,” and “Fuck his mother and entire fucking family!”) but also encouraged his friends to “Vote YES for the UNION.” Perez knew that 10 coworkers could see the post but likely did not know that it was also publicly accessible. Perez removed the post three days later and was fired soon thereafter. Perez filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board (the board), alleging that he had been terminated in retaliation for protected concerted activities under the National Labor Relations Act. Another employee filed a separate charge. The consolidated matter was heard by an administrative law judge, who found in Perez’s favor. The board affirmed and filed an application for enforcement, which came before the Second Circuit for review.