Starbucks Coffee, 354 NLRB No. 99 (2009)

There is a lot going on in this 55 page decision and this clip really cannot be considered in isolation. The employee in question engaged in protected and concerted activity not depicted here and his termination which was purportedly in part  for the exchange depicted was found to be unlawful as a pretext. The full decision is linked  here.

NLRB v. Thor Power Tool

NLRB v. Thor Power Tool is one of the classic cases of this line. Because of technical limitations, I had to change things a little bit, but the dialogue is pretty much the same.  In Thor, a steward represented an employee at a grievance meeting. The grievance meeting became heated and the steward called the boss a "horse's ass." The steward was fired for referring to his boss in this way.

Plaza Auto 355 NLRB No. 85

In Plaza Auto, a car salesman engaged in protected, concerted activity when he complained to and on behalf of the other salesmen regarding such issues as lack of breaks or bathrooms and pay. The salesman was also suspicious that the owner padded the vehicle costs which cut into commissions. Many people don't know that such complaints can be activity protected by the law. The salesman was called into a meeting with management and the owner. Things got a little...heated in the meeting. The NLRB examined whether the salesman lost protection of the NLRA by his conduct during the meeting. The full text of the decision is linked here.

Kiewit Power 355 NLRB No. 155 (2010)

In Kiewit Power, the electricians working on a turbine had a ten minute walk to a break area, but by contract, they only had a fifteen minute break. The practice was that they were allowed to walk to their break area and then begin the break, effectively taking a 35 minute break. However, management decided to end this practice and informed the electricians that they would need to break where they were working. The men objected on several grounds, including that where they were working was not a sanitary place to take a break. The men refused to obey the directive to break where they were and a supervisor was tasked with issuing verbal warnings (the first step in their progressive disciplinary system).  One interaction became...heated as depicted below. The NLRB had to determine whether an electrician's objections ceased to be protected activity.  The full text is linked here.