Court Considers "Threat" On Facebook 'Picket Line' By ATU Facebook Page

Court Considers "Threat" On Facebook 'Picket Line' By ATU Facebook Page
Court Considers Threat On Facebook 'Picket Line'
http://www.politico.com/morningshift/1014/morningshift15752.html
COURT CONSIDERS THREAT ON FACEBOOK 'PICKET LINE' — Judges on the country's second most powerful appeals court were divided yesterday over whether threats made on a union's private Facebook page were distinguishable, in the eyes of the law, from threats made on a real-world picket line.

A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments in Charles Weigand v. NLRB. Weigand, a non-union employee of Veolia Transportation Services, claims that in the run-up to a six-day strike in 2012 he was threatened by members of the Amalgamated Transit Union on ATU’s Facebook page. Weigand did not have access to the private page, but eventually he learned that union members had said on the Facebook page that they would picket the houses of strikebreakers.

The NLRB previously affirmed an administrative law judge's ruling declining to find the union liable for the alleged threats, on the grounds that a private Facebook page was not analogous to a picket line. Under the National Labor Relations Act unions can be held responsible for any coercive acts their members engage in on a public picket line. Weigand appealed this decision.

At yesterday's oral arguments, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a Republican appointee, seemed more sympathetic to Weigand’s argument. "I'm having trouble guessing why threats on a Facebook page are different analytically than threats on a picket line," Kavanaugh said. But Judge Harry Edwards, a Democratic appointee, found Weigand's argument a stretch. "You'd definitely have a different case if it's publicly accessible," Edwards said. Judge Sri Srinivasan, a Democratic appointee, didn't appear to favor either side in his remarks. You can hear the oral argument of the case here: http://goo.gl/vfvhKX

Most recent recordings released 10/21/2014 in the following:

12-1309 PART A23.5 MbJudges: Garland, Henderson, SrinivasanArguing: Valerie S. Edge, Robin Cooley, Robert Ukeiley, Donna J. Hodges, Timothy Junk, Roger Martella, Jr., Reed D. Rubenstein, Elizabeth Boucher Dawson (DOJ), Jessica O'Donnell (DOJ)10/21/2014