Ryan Funk Offers Insights to Law360 on Fifth Circuit Ruling That Vacated a NLRB Decision

In a recent Law360 article, labor and employment partner Ryan Funk broke down the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision on Thryv Inc. v. NLRB, which vacated the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)’s decision finding the company violated federal labor law by laying off six unionized workers. The article reported that the NLRB used the case to lay out a new remedy that it would order against employers who violate labor law that would require them to compensate workers “direct or foreseeable” harms due to the violation. 

Although the court didn’t rule on the board’s authority to issue remedies in the event of labor violations, Funk explained it signaled the court’s skepticism on the broad use of the term “consequential damages,” saying that the phrase referred to “a specific type of legal damages awarded in other areas of the law.” 

"I don't think we can read their failure to address it as tacit approval because it just didn't address the issue and the court went out of its way to show that it was unimpressed by the Thryv remedy," Funk said.