Executive’s iPhone Use Didn’t Interfere With Worker Protests

A construction company executive used his iPhone to record employee misconduct, not to illegally make workers think they were under surveillance, an NLRB administrative law judge ruled.

Permitting supervisors to carry smartphones near picket lines or employee demonstrations may spark charges that an employer is trying to intimidate workers, but ALJ Andrew S. Gollin’s Dec. 8 decision affirmed that the National Labor Relations Act permits employers to document illegal and unprotected protests.

The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America alleged that Brasfield & Gorrie LLC’s senior safety director, John Wickham, pointed an iPhone and appeared to pan it ...