Union Notices Removed, Personal Notices Left Up: Document the Difference

When a union notice disappears but ordinary personal notices remain, preserve what the posting area actually looked like and how management used the rule. The comparison concerns permission and enforcement at that location—not simply whether a workplace has a bulletin board.

The adopted Starbucks Corporation (Affton, Missouri) decision involved a back-of-house refrigerator used for personal postings. Credited testimony about what stayed up and what managers removed supplied the facts behind the discrimination finding.

Describe the location and its ordinary use

Identify the surface, who could see it and how the surrounding area functioned. Was it a staff break or storage space, a customer-facing display or a work station? Keep the location specific. A practice on one staff refrigerator does not establish the practice on every company surface.

In the Affton decision, the refrigerator stood in a mixed storage and break area outside customer view. That setting mattered when the employer relied on a work-area posting rule. If a similar dispute arises, preserve the actual policy and the facts relevant to that distinction.

Compare permitted notices with the removed material

Make dated notes of the union notice and the personal notices around it. Identify what each concerned, how long it remained and whether a manager saw it. Separate a firsthand observation from a later description by someone else.

The judge credited evidence that moving-box requests, clothing-exchange notices and antiunion material remained while pro-union flyers were removed. A letter urging a no vote had stayed up for at least two weeks without management directing its removal, sharpening the comparison between opposing union messages. That comparison was more useful than a general assertion that management disliked the union. It showed how permission and enforcement differed at the actual location.

Preserve the instruction and the response

Record the person giving the removal instruction, the words used, the date and any policy cited. Keep a lawful copy of the flyer and any message about it. Identify whether management removed it, directed someone else to do so or permitted other notices to remain afterward.

A photograph can help if you may lawfully take and possess it. Avoid capturing private information unnecessarily, follow applicable restrictions and do not access a restricted area to create evidence. Where a photograph is inappropriate, accurate notes and identified witnesses can still describe what occurred.

Ask which rule governs the particular activity

The Affton judge applied the principle that an employer permitting personal postings may not enforce that permission discriminatorily against union notices. The decision’s comparison concerned the specific posting practice and area. Questions about distributing literature, working time, solicitation or another location require the governing rule for that activity.

Before treating a manager’s instruction as either lawful or unlawful, have counsel review the actual policy, practice and setting. Do not turn one posting dispute into a claim that every display rule is invalid or that every union notice may be posted anywhere.

Bring a short comparison, with the originals

Organize the material by date: Policy in effect, permitted personal notices, union notice, removal instruction and later enforcement. Include facts that may explain different treatment, such as a safety concern, a changed rule or a location difference. A review is stronger when it tests an explanation rather than hides it.

The case analysis explains why the judge credited the employees’ account and separately dismissed a different alleged threat. If you are considering an unfair labor practice charge, obtain prompt advice about the applicable procedure and deadline. An internal discussion about reposting does not establish that an external filing period has stopped.