Opinion ID: 799606
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Agins's Discharge

Text: As noted, Agins was discharged primarily for his use of obscenities in an outburst during an organized protest of Starbucks's restrictive button policy. The Act generally prohibits employers from discriminat[ing] in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization.. . . 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(3). If a decision to terminate an employee is motivated by that employee's union-related activity, the termination is unlawful. However, even when an employee is engaged in protected activity, he or she may lose the protection of the Act by virtue of profane and insubordinate comments. Verizon Wireless, 349 N.L.R.B. 640, 642 (2007). But not all such behavior results in a loss of protection; rather, employees are permitted some leeway for impulsive behavior when engaging in concerted activity . . . balanced against an employer's right to maintain order and respect in the workplace. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted); accord Caval Tool, 262 F.3d at 192 ([E]mployees receive some leeway since passions may run high and impulsive behavior is common.). To determine, in some contexts, whether an employee has lost the protection of the Act, the Board considers four factors: (1) the place of the discussion; (2) the subject matter of the discussion; (3) the nature of the employee's outburst; and (4) whether the outburst was, in any way, provoked by an employer's unfair labor practice. Atlantic Steel Co., 245 N.L.R.B. 814, 816 (1979). In this case, the ALJ found that, on balance, these factors favored protecting Agins. She acknowledged that the first factor weighed against protection because the outburst took place in a public area of one of Starbucks's stores, permitting both employees and customers to hear it. The ALJ found that the second factor weighed in favor of protection because the outburst originated out of a discussion that was primarily about the union. The ALJ reached the same conclusion regarding the third factor because the outburst was brief and did not involve threats toward a supervisor. Finally, the ALJ determined that the fourth factor either weighed in favor of protection or only slightly against it because the comments that elicited Agins's outburst, although not illegal, were provocative. The Board adopted the ALJ's reasoning, as well as her conclusion that Agins's outburst was protected by the Act. We think the analysis of the ALJ and the Board improperly disregarded the entirely legitimate concern of an employer not to tolerate employee outbursts containing obscenities in the presence of customers. When the Board formulated its four-factor test in Atlantic Steel for determining whether an employee's obscenities would cause the employee to lose the protection of the Act, it was not considering obscenities in a public place in the presence of customers. The context was the workplace, e.g., the factory floor or a backroom office, and the concern was whether the outburst would impair employer discipline. In that context, the Board distinguished between a spontaneous outburst during the heat of a formal grievance proceeding or in contract negotiations[,] which would not cause a loss of protection, and an employee's use of obscenity to a supervisor on the production floor, which would not be protected. Id. at 816. The Board recognized that even an employee who is engaged in concerted protected activity can, by opprobrious conduct, lose the protection of the Act[,] id., and then formulated the four factor test to determine whether the employee has crossed that line,  id. (emphasis added). Thus, it is clear that place, the first of the four factors, serves to distinguish outbursts in the presence of other employees from those away from other employees or in the course of grievance proceedings or contract negotiations. It has nothing to do with public venues where customers are present. In that context the Atlantic Steel test is inapplicable. The Board had previously acknowledged that the language of the shop is not the language of `polite society.' Dreis & Krump Mfg., Inc., 221 N.L.R.B. 309, 315 (1975) (emphasis added), enforced, 544 F.2d 320 (7th Cir.1976). But even when the Board recognized some leeway for impulsive behavior by an employee, it said that that leeway was to be balanced against an employer's right to maintain order and respect, Piper Realty Co., 313 N.L.R.B. 1289, 1290 (1994), thus indicating that the focus was on workplace outbursts that might undermine an employer's authority, not outbursts in public spaces that risked losing customers. In the context of outbursts containing obscenities uttered in the workplace, the Board has regularly observed a distinction between outbursts under circumstances where there was little if any risk that other employees heard the obscenities and those where that risk was high. Compare Alcoa, Inc., 352 N.L.R.B. 1222, 1226 (2008) (outburst in grievance meeting; protection maintained), Stanford New York LLC, 344 N.L.R.B. 558, 558-59 (2005) (outburst in employee lunchroom behind closed door in absence of other employees; protection maintained), Felix Industries, 339 N.L.R.B. 195, 195-97 (2003) (outburst in private telephone conversation; protection maintained), with Verizon Wireless, 349 N.L.R.B. at 642-43 (outburst in office cubicle adjacent to other employees' cubicles; protection lost), DaimlerChrysler Corp., 344 N.L.R.B. 1324, 1329-31 (2005) (outburst in workplace heard by other employees; protection lost), Aluminum Co. of America, 338 N.L.R.B. 20, 21-22 (2002) (outburst in employee breakroom within hearing of other employees; protection lost), Atlantic Steel Co., 245 N.L.R.B. at 816-17 (outburst on production floor; protection lost). Because we conclude that the Atlantic Steel test is inapplicable to an employee's use of obscenities in the presence of an employer's customers, we face one further issue in this case: whether an employee's outburst in which obscenities are used in the presence of customers loses otherwise available protection if the employee is off duty although on the employer's premises. On the one hand, it is arguable that section 7 never protects an employee who uses obscenities in the presence of customers, even when discussing employment issues, whether or not the employee is present as an identifiable employee or only as a customer. On the other hand, it is also arguable that section 7 withdraws protection from an employee discussing such issues and using obscenities only when the employee is identifiable by customers as an employee, e.g., in a work uniform. Although an employer has the undoubted right to remove from a store any person, including an employee, who causes a disturbance likely to risk loss of customers, the discharge of an employee has more serious and long-lasting consequences for the employee than a demand that a customer or an employee leave the premises. Now that the Board is advised that its Atlantic Steel four-factor test is not applicable to determining section 7 protection for an employee who, while discussing employment issues, utters obscenities in the presence of customers, we think the Board should have the opportunity in the first instance to consider what standard it will apply in that context. Whether it will deny protection to any person who in fact is an employee or only to persons whom the employer reasonably believes customers would reasonably perceive to be an employee, or will develop some other formulation remains to be seen. We simply leave such matters for the Board's consideration in the first instance. Of course, if the Board's standard for the context of customers involves the employer's and the customers' reasonable perceptions concerning an off-duty employee's status as an employee, the Board will also have to make findings as to the relevant facts. Allowing the Board to consider the appropriate standard for the customer context and, if necessary, find the facts concerning reasonable perceptions of the employee as an employee requires a remand.