The US Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a challenge by Starbucks to a judicial decision that required the coffee chain to rehire seven employees at certainly one of its cafes in Memphis, Tenn., who a federal agency determined were fired for supporting unionization.
The justices took up a Starbucks appeal of a lower court’s ruling that found that the corporate likely discouraged other employees from exercising their rights under US labor law by firing the Memphis workers in 2022.
That is the primary case to reach the Supreme Court involving an ongoing nationwide campaign to unionize Starbucks stores.
The Memphis store is certainly one of greater than 370 Starbucks locations in america to unionize since 2021.
The Seattle-based company was non-union for many years.
![Fired Memphis employees in 2022.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/2022-memphis-tenn-starbucks-says-17743977.jpg?w=1024)
The National Labor Relations Board concluded that Starbucks unlawfully fired the Memphis employees for supporting the union drive and to send a message to other workers.
The NLRB sought an injunction to compel Starbucks to rehire the staff, which Memphis-based US District Judge Sheryl Lipman granted.
The Cincinnati, Ohio-based sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Lipman’s decision in 2023, faulting the actions of Starbucks.
![Supreme Court building](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/2024-hear-donald-trumps-appeal-74451333-1.jpg?w=1024)
Starbucks has said it fired the workers for violating an organization safety policy by opening their store without consent and allowing journalists inside.
The corporate last 12 months said it rehired the seven employees to comply with Lipman’s order, but still pursued the appeal of the sixth Circuit decision to the Supreme Court.
The corporate has said the sixth Circuit applied too low of a bar by requiring the NLRB to show only that there was “reasonable cause” to consider the corporate committed labor law violations.
Major business groups, in urging the Supreme Court to hear the Starbucks appeal, argued that the sixth Circuit and other federal courts have made it too easy for the NLRB to win judicial orders requiring businesses to take steps to address allegedly illegal labor practices.
Greater than 700 complaints have been filed with the NLRB accusing Starbucks of illegal labor practices corresponding to firing union supporters, spying on workers and shutting stores during labor campaigns.
The sixth Circuit is considering a Starbucks appeal of an NLRB ruling in a separate case barring the corporate from firing or disciplining employees at a location in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Other US appeals courts are reviewing NLRB rulings that Starbucks illegally fired union organizers in Philadelphia and has refused to bargain with unionized workers in Seattle.
The corporate has denied wrongdoing and said it offers employees competitive wages and advantages and respects their rights under federal labor law.