DC Circuit Sets Legal Test for Union Retaliation in AFGE Case

Union leaders and members must meet a stricter standard for proving retaliation under a federal labor-management law, the DC Circuit ruled while refusing to revive a former American Federation of Government Employees official’s lawsuit.

The correct standard for retaliation under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act is but-for causation, a test that says the alleged retaliatory action wouldn’t have occurred except for the plaintiff’s protected conduct, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held Tuesday.

The circuit court rejected Eugene Hudson’s call for the less stringent motivating-factor threshold. Hudson was challenging a jury’s verdict that the ...