Indianapolis, IN (March 2, 2015) – A former seasonal Indianapolis-area UPS (NYSE: UPS) worker has settled with the company after filing unfair labor practice charges against UPS with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Avon resident Dale Thrasher filed the charges with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys after UPS refused to hire him in retaliation for declining to join the Teamsters union during the company’s orientation.

Thrasher has been a seasonal employee for UPS for the past several years. In November 2014, while attending a UPS driver orientation, company officials told all potential employees that they were required to join the union as a condition of employment.

Under Indiana’s popular Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment. Under federal law, even workers in states without Right to Work protections have the unconditional right to refrain from union membership at any time and the right to refrain from union dues or fees during the first 30 days after employment.

When Thrasher said he was not joining the Teamsters union, a manager stated, «Here at UPS, you have to join the union.» Thrasher was then escorted off the property.

After Thrasher filed the charge for his unlawful discharge, he was rehired by UPS. Later, Thrasher was awarded compensation under the terms of the settlement for the time he was out of work.

«UPS management misled seasonal workers about their rights concerning union membership and dues payments under federal and state law,» said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. «This case underscores the importance Indiana’s Right to Work law has for workers who often face coercion from powerful union and company officials just for trying to exercise their rights.»

Foundation attorneys are assisting other UPS employees encountering difficulties in exercising their rights to refrain from Teamster union membership and dues payments. In Michigan, two UPS employees filed charges against the company and the union for stonewalling their attempts to exercise their rights under Michigan’s recently-enacted Right to Work law. In California, Foundation attorneys are assisting a former seasonal UPS employee who received a $0 paycheck after UPS illegally deducted, and the Teamster union hierarchy accepted, union dues and fees from his paycheck.

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.