On January 21, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit enforced a National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) order requiring Macy’s to provide workers with heightened remedies in response to an unfair labor practice (“ULP”) charge. As reported here, the Court’s ruling creates a split with the Third Circuit on available remedies under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or the “Act”).
Ninth Circuit
SCOTUS Denies Review and Leaves Seattle’s “Play-or Pay” Ordinance Intact
By Joshua Fox & Caroline Libby on
On November 21, 2022, the Supreme Court declined to review whether federal law preempts a Seattle Ordinance mandating that large hotels offer their employees health insurance coverage or increased pay. This left the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, which found that the particular ordinance was not preempted, as the last word on…

No, Unions Do Not Have A Free Speech Right To Engage In Unlawful Secondary Boycott Activity, Federal Appeals Court Rules
By Mark Theodore, Joshua Fox & Annabel Pollioni on
On October 28, 2019, the Ninth Circuit, following in the footsteps of the D.C. Circuit and the Second Circuit, affirmed an order entered by the NLRB confirming that prohibitions on secondary boycotts under Section 8(b)(4)(i)(B) of the NLRA do not violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Nat’l …