Union boss policies illegally prevented nonunion drivers from finding work on ABC Lifetime’s Army Wives television show

Washington, DC (August 24, 2015) – The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has affirmed a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision awarding over $55,000 in back pay to a television employee who was discriminated against by Teamster union officials.

This decision caps nearly a six-year legal battle between a worker and union bosses in Charleston, South Carolina. The case began when Thomas Troy Coghill, an ABC driver who received free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB in 2009.

Teamster Local 509 union officials had entered into a monopoly bargaining agreement with ABC in South Carolina that forced workers to go through the union’s exclusive hiring hall to get a job with the studio during production of ABC’s show, Army Wives. Coghill – a member of a different Teamster local from North Carolina– was hired as a driver during the show’s first two seasons after demand for drivers outpaced the number of drivers that Local 509 could provide.

As more Local 509 members became available to work on Army Wives during the third and fourth seasons, a dispute arose among various Teamster officials over who should be eligible to work on the program. Coghill was eventually removed from Local 509’s “Movie Referral List” because he did not belong to Local 509 while its members continued to receive preferential access to jobs on the set of Army Wives.

Coghill responded to Local 509’s hiring procedure by filing unfair labor practice charges against the union on the grounds that federal labor law prohibits union officials from discriminating against nonunion employees. National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys subsequently persuaded an Administrative Law Judge to award Coghill over $55,000 in back pay.

Union lawyers unsuccessfully appealed the ruling to the NLRB, which affirmed the judge’s decision in its entirety. Local 509 then appealed the NLRB’s decision to the Appeals Court.

“After years of a drawn out legal battle and countless appeals, union bosses’ egregious and illegal tactics have yet again been found unlawful by a federal court,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This case shows that even in a Right to Work state like South Carolina, without vigorous enforcement of nonunion workers’ rights, union officials will attempt to discriminate against employees who refuse to tow the union line.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.