Tulsa, OK (July 8, 2014) – After years of stonewalling and legal wrangling, a local Teamster union has finally agreed to pay a former Interstate Bakeries Wonder Bread/Hostess delivery driver $51,500 in damages and interest for discriminating against the worker.

Oklahoma worker Kirk Rammage has received free assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys during his eight year legal battle challenging the local Teamster union’s discriminatory policy.

Rammage was the single nonunion sales representative with a Dolly Madison facility in Ponca City for over 15 years before his division was merged in 2005 with Wonder Bread/Hostess. Although the company initially wanted to protect Rammage’s seniority during the merger, Teamster Local 523 union officials insisted that Rammage be put at the bottom of the seniority roster despite his longer workplace tenure. The company later complied with the union bosses’ demand.

By insisting that Rammage lose his seniority, Teamster officials effectively discriminated against him based on his union membership. As a result, Rammage was forced to commute to a new work location more than 70 miles away.

After Rammage filed federal charges against the union, the NLRB ruled against the discriminatory Teamster-imposed policy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the NLRB’s decision on an appeal filed by Teamster union lawyers. Those rulings were later nullified by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009 on the ground that the Board lacked a three-member quorum at the time of its decision.

The case then went back to the NLRB. The NLRB revisited the facts of the case and again concluded that union officials broke the law. The Tenth Circuit upheld the NLRB ruling again and slapped Teamster Local 523 with monetary sanctions for the frivolous nature of the union’s lawyers’ second appeal. Teamster union lawyers appealed the case to the Supreme Court again, but the Court declined to take the case.

The case then went before an NLRB Administrative Law Judge to determine the amount of back pay and damages the union owes Rammage. The judge ruled that Rammage was entitled to $47,337 in back pay and reimbursements, plus interest. After union lawyers filed objections, a three-member panel of the NLRB ruled once again in favor of Rammage.

The union has now agreed to pay damages and interest totaling $51,500, starting with an initial payment of $10,000 by July 10.

«Justice delayed is justice denied and Mr. Rammage has been denied justice for far too long,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «After multiple hearings and trials, and two appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, we are glad that Mr. Rammage will finally receive compensation.»

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 more than 250 cases nationwide per year.