NFL Management Council and NFLPA
National Labor Relations Board
309 N.L.R.B. 78 (1992)
During the 1987 NFL players' strike, the NFL Management Council (NFLMC) (respondent) used replacement players, and when the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) (petitioner) ended the strike on a Thursday, NFL teams refused to let any returning veteran player who had not reported by 1:00 p.m. the prior Wednesday play that weekend's games, while still allowing replacement players who signed as late as Saturday afternoon to play the very next day. The NFLPA filed unfair labor practice charges, arguing the Wednesday deadline discriminatorily punished players specifically for having exercised their right to strike by denying them a portion of their salary.
Whether an employer's rule that discriminates against returning strikers, by barring them from work available to late-arriving replacement workers, constitutes an unfair labor practice absent a legitimate and substantial business justification.