By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday issued an injunction requiring Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) to refrain from firing union supporters amid a nationwide organizing campaign at its warehouses.
A three-judge panel of the Manhattan-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals said the judge who issued the order last year at the request of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) failed to explain why such a sweeping mandate was necessary.
The Labor Board sought the order after Amazon fired Gerald Bryson, a union organizer at a Staten Island warehouse, in 2020 for making profane comments to a co-worker during a protest over an alleged lack of safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The warehouse, known as JFK8, became the first unionized Amazon facility in 2022. Amazon workers at two other warehouses in New York and one in Alabama have since voted against unionizing.
U.S. District Judge Diane Gujarati in Brooklyn ruled that Bryson’s firing violated his rights under U.S. labor law and barred Amazon from firing other union supporters. But the judge refused to order Amazon to reinstate Bryson, saying there was no evidence his firing would prevent other employees from joining a union.
The 2nd Circuit said Wednesday that the requirement that Amazon not fire other employees was unnecessary if there was no evidence that Bryson’s firing had a broader impact.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An NLRB spokeswoman declined to comment.
The labor board had sought an injunction against Amazon pending the outcome of a related administrative case over Bryson’s dismissal.
Amazon claims it fired Bryson because of his conduct during the protest and not because of his support of the union. A video of the protest showed Bryson calling a female colleague a “crackhead” and “stupid,” among other things.
Some Republican lawmakers criticized the Democratic-led NLRB for pursuing the case, citing Bryson’s conduct.
An administrative law judge ordered Amazon to reinstate Bryson in 2022 and the company appealed.
The five-member board referred the case back to the courts last year to apply a new legal standard the board had adopted for cases where employees engage in misconduct while exercising their right to organize. The judge again ruled against Amazon in January.