Supreme Court: Big Labor Violates Workers’ Privacy

The United States Supreme Court has let stand a lower court’s judgment against UNITE HERE, finding the labor union violated the privacy of thousands of Cintas employees under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.

The ruling comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a decision finding that UNITE HERE had illegally obtained the license plate numbers from Cintas employees — as well as some of their friends and family members — in order to access home addresses and other personal information. Each plaintiff currently stands to receive up to $2,500.

This is the second multi-million dollar decision rendered against UNITE HERE related to its organizing tactics. In 2006, a jury in Northern California found that UNITE HERE had defamed Sutter Health and its affiliated hospitals during another organizing campaign. The union was ordered to pay over $17 million in damages.