🗞️ A Daffy Duck Text, a Bargaining Table Insult, and a Divided Labor Board
The NLRB ruled that a Detroit wastewater firm illegally fired a union steward over a texted GIF and a medical leave worker for striking, while clearing the company on a separate claim that it threatened grievance filers during contract talks.
The National Labor Relations Board has ordered Inland Waters Pollution Control, a Detroit sewer repair company, to reinstate two employees it fired in 2021, finding their terminations were driven by union activity rather than the misconduct the company cited. The decision, issued July 29, 2026, by Chairman James Murphy and Members David Prouty and Scott Mayer, largely affirmed a 2022 ruling by Administrative Law Judge Andrew Gollin, though the Board divided on one issue.
The case centered on Shinar Reed, the union's chief steward, who was fired after sending a group text featuring a Daffy Duck GIF and dialect phrasing to coworkers during a strike, intended, he said, to mock the company's threat to replace picketing workers. Management called the message racially offensive; applying the burden shifting Wright Line framework that governs claims of anti union motivation, the Board found the company's stated reason was pretextual, citing inconsistent explanations, an incomplete investigation, and uneven discipline of other employees involved in separate racially charged incidents. The Board likewise upheld the judge's finding that Quamaar Haashiim, an employee on extended medical leave, was unlawfully discharged after he was declared "permanently replaced" days after joining the picket line, despite company records still listing him as employed.
Where the Board departed from the judge was on a narrower question: whether the company crossed a legal line during 2020 contract negotiations when it proposed language allowing it to discipline employees for "baseless, malicious or harassing" grievances, and told Reed directly to cut down on "bullshit grievances." The judge found this an unlawful threat. The Murphy and Mayer majority disagreed, reasoning that labor law tolerates blunt, even intemperate rhetoric at the bargaining table and that a bargaining proposal alone cannot independently violate the law. Member Prouty dissented on this point, arguing that framing a threat as a bargaining position does not shield it, and that the statements would reasonably discourage workers from filing grievances.
The order requires backpay, reinstatement, and related remedies for both discharged workers under the Board's standard make whole framework. Notably, the majority applied the Board's 2022 Thryv remedy, which allows workers to recover job search and other out of pocket costs beyond lost wages, while noting in a footnote that Members Murphy and Mayer have not taken a position on whether that expanded remedy is ultimately permissible under the law.
Key Points
- The Board found Inland Waters unlawfully fired steward Shinar Reed and employee Quamaar Haashiim in 2021 for engaging in protected union and strike activity, violating Section 8(a)(3) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act.
- Reed's termination over a texted GIF was found pretextual; the company gave shifting justifications, skipped its usual harassment investigation steps, and treated comparable incidents by other employees differently.
- Haashiim, on medical leave since 2020, was declared "permanently replaced" shortly after he joined the picket line, even though internal company records still listed him as an active employee.
- The Board reversed the judge's separate finding that a company bargaining proposal and remarks about "excessive" and "bullshit" grievances amounted to an unlawful threat, ruling the statements were lawful hard bargaining.
- Member Prouty dissented on that point, arguing the proposal functioned as a threat regardless of the bargaining context.
- The company must reinstate both workers with backpay, interest, and compensation for related expenses and tax consequences.
Primary Source Author: National Labor Relations Board (Chairman James Murphy, Members David Prouty and Scott Mayer)
Primary Source: Inland Waters Pollution Control, Inc., 375 NLRB No. 15 (July 29, 2026)
Primary Source Link: https://www.nlrb.gov/case/07-CA-277239
