May 15, 2026
The Fifth Circuit has ordered the National Labor Relations Board to rethink a ruling that Starbucks unfairly fired a union backer who sent profane messages and opened its mail, saying the board did not grapple with evidence showing his "extreme" words were an outlier in a workplace that tolerated some profanity.
February 02, 2026
A Fifth Circuit panel pressed the National Labor Relations Board to explain why Starbucks lacks the ability to fire a union organizer who used excessively colorful language in private messages to co-workers, saying Monday the language used would "make any of us blush."
July 22, 2025
The National Labor Relations Board ignored evidence of a fired Starbucks employee's repeated policy violations when ruling that the worker was fired because of the company's animus toward his union organizing activities, Starbucks told the Fifth Circuit, asking it to overturn the board's ruling.