Appeals Court Sends Starbucks Interrogation Case Back to NLRB

The National Labor Relations Board must reconsider an order against Starbucks Corp. after a federal appeals court ruled it improperly applied legal precedent in a case centering on employer free speech.

An all-Republican panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit remanded a March 2024 holding by the board, saying it must consider how potentially coercive statements were perceived by an employee when considering unlawful interrogation charges.

The NLRB held in its ruling that a Starbucks manager had illegally interrogated and threatened a shift supervisor in a one-on-one meeting by implying that wage and benefits increases might ...