Amazon claims the Labor Council is unconstitutional
In the latest sign of a growing backlash within corporate America against the 88-year-old federal agency that enforces labor rights, Amazon argued in a legal filing Thursday that the National Labor Relations Board was unconstitutional.
The move followed a similar argument from SpaceX, the rocket company founded and run by Elon Musk, in a legal complaint in January, and from Trader Joe's during a Labor Council hearing A few weeks later.
The Labor Board consists of a Prosecution Division, which files complaints against employers or unions deemed to have violated federally protected labor rights; administrative judges, who handle complaints; and a five-member board in Washington, against which decisions can be appealed.
Amazon's filing was part of a case before an administrative law judge in which labor board prosecutors have accused Amazon of illegally retaliating against unionized workers at a Staten Island warehouse known as JFK8 two years ago.
The company's lawyers repeatedly denied in their filing that Amazon had broken the law. Then, under a section titled “Other Defenses,” they argued that “the structure of the NLRB violates the separation of powers” by “obstructing the separation of powers.” the executive power provided in Article II of the United States Constitution.”
The company also argued that the board or its actions or procedures violated Articles I and III of the Constitution, as well as the Fifth and Seventh Amendments — the latter because, the filing said, in hearings in the board remedies may be sought beyond what is permitted without a jury trial.
Amazon declined to comment.
The claims in the filing echo arguments that SpaceX lawyers made in a federal lawsuit last month, after the labor board filed a complaint accusing the company of illegally firing eight employees for criticizing Mr. Musk. SpaceX filed a lawsuit in Texas, but a federal judge there on Thursday granted the board's request to transfer the case to California, where the company is headquartered.
In a statement, the board's general counsel Jennifer A. Abruzzo said, “I am pleased that SpaceX's blatant forum-shopping efforts in Texas, in an effort to advance the agency's lawsuits against it, have failed.”
Wilma Liebman, chair of the Labor Council under President Barack Obama, called Amazon and SpaceX's arguments “radical,” adding that “the constitutionality of the NLRB was settled by the Supreme Court nearly 90 years ago.”
The arguments appear to be in line with a broader conservative effort to question the constitutionality of a variety of regulatory actions, some of which have resulted in cases before the Supreme Court.
In January, the Supreme Court also agreed to hear a case brought by Starbucks challenging a federal judge's order to reinstate workers fired during a unionization drive. The outcome of the case could end the Labor Board's long-standing practice of reassigning workers while their cases are litigated, a process that could take years.