DC Circuit Rejects CenturyTel's Appeal of NLRB Decision
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has rejected CenturyTel’s appeal of a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that the company broke the law by failing to provide information to a labor union about nonunion workers operating in the union’s jurisdiction, according to an order Tuesday (docket 24-1346).
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In 2021, a Montana chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers requested information from CenturyTel about nonunion technicians working for the company in the state after receiving information about such workers operating in other jurisdictions. CenturyTel didn’t provide the information, arguing that because the technicians weren’t in the union, it wasn’t relevant. In 2024, the NLRB ruled that CenturyTel was obligated to share the information with the union, and the D.C. Circuit upheld that decision Tuesday.
A three-judge panel ruled that CenturyTel should have known that the information was relevant because a CenturyTel employee admitted that nonunion workers were operating in the area in a phone call with union staff and because CenturyTel had been punished for similar violations in the past. “CenturyTel’s challenges therefore fail in view of the substantial evidence of relevance,” said the D.C. Circuit.