Supreme Court hands NLRB a piping hot wake-up call

A mostly unanimous U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) request for preliminary injunctive relief while unfair labor practice charges are pending is to be evaluated by the same standards as any other injunction request. The ruling in Starbucks v. McKinney rejected the Board’s position that its requests should be subject to a more deferential standard.

Freshly brewed

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) authorizes the NLRB to seek preliminary injunctive relief in cases for appropriate temporary relief or restraining order. The district court is then authorized to issue relief it believes is “just and proper.”

The Supreme Court has long held that district courts should apply a four-factor test for evaluating injunction requests. That four-factor test requires the moving party to demonstrate:

·     A likelihood of success on the merits;