Trader Joe's Company v. NLRB
Split Score
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This score (0-100) indicates how likely this case is to be reviewed by the Supreme Court based on:
Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed
Trader Joe’s sought review of an NLRB order finding that it unlawfully disciplined, suspended, and fired employee Jill Groeschel for engaging in protected, concerted COVID-19 safety advocacy and for filing unfair-labor-practice charges. The Fifth Circuit denied Trader Joe’s petition and enforced the Board’s order, holding that substantial evidence supported the unfair-labor-practice findings and that it lacked jurisdiction to pass on the legality of the Board’s Thryv damages remedy.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether the National Labor Relations Board has statutory authority under NLRA §10(c) to award "direct or foreseeable pecuniary harms"—the so-called Thryv remedy—beyond traditional back-pay relief.
Circuit Positions
Board lacks statutory authority to order Thryv compensatory-damages remedy
Board has authority to order Thryv compensatory-damages remedy
Conflict Summary
Several circuits have held that the NLRA authorizes only equitable, back-pay style relief and therefore bars the NLRB from awarding compensatory damages for "direct or foreseeable pecuniary harms" (the Thryv remedy). The Ninth Circuit has upheld the Board’s authority to order such relief, while the Third, Fifth, Sixth, and Tenth Circuits have rejected it as ultra vires.