🗞️ Fired for Talking Pay: Judge Rules Chicago Sign Shop Illegally Punished Wage Talk
An NLRB judge found Custom Sign Consultants unlawfully told an employee he couldn't discuss wages, then fired him for doing so anyway, ordering reinstatement and back pay.
A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge has ruled that Custom Sign Consultants, a small sign fabrication company in Chicago, violated federal labor law by telling an employee he could no longer discuss his wages, then firing him six days later after he kept doing so.
The employee, Joseph Kierstyn, operated cutting machinery in the company's shop and had been raising the topic of pay disparities with coworkers after ownership announced plans in May 2024 to cut everyone's hours. According to the judge's findings, a production manager told Kierstyn he was "no longer allowed to discuss wages." When Kierstyn continued talking about pay with colleagues in the days that followed, he was discharged, with the company citing "unsatisfactory workmanship" as the official reason.
The judge determined that the manager who delivered the instruction did not meet the legal definition of a supervisor, but found he had acted closely enough as an agent of ownership that his statement was still attributable to the company. On the discharge itself, the judge concluded that the company's stated justifications shifted over time and were largely undocumented, and that the timing, coming soon after both the wage discussions and the instruction barring them, supported an inference of unlawful motive. The company maintained it had already decided to replace Kierstyn over performance concerns before any protected activity took place, an argument the judge rejected as inconsistent with the record.
Under longstanding National Labor Relations Board guidance, most private sector employees, unionized or not, have the right to discuss pay with their coworkers, a principle the Board has applied consistently for decades. The remedy ordered in this case, reinstatement, back pay, expungement of discharge records, and a workplace notice, follows the template the Board typically applies in unfair labor practice findings.
As with all administrative law judge decisions, the ruling is a recommendation. It becomes final only if neither side files exceptions with the Board in Washington, or if the Board later affirms it on review.
Key Points
- The Board judge found the company unlawfully barred an employee from discussing wages and then fired him for continuing to do so.
- The manager who gave the instruction was not deemed a formal legal supervisor, but was found to be an agent of the company, making the instruction attributable to ownership.
- The company's shifting and largely undocumented justifications for the firing, along with its timing, supported an inference of retaliatory motive.
- The ordered remedy includes reinstatement, back pay with interest, removal of discharge records, and a posted employee notice.
- The decision is a recommended order and is subject to appeal to the full Board.
Primary Source Author: Andrew S. Gollin, Administrative Law Judge, National Labor Relations Board
Primary Source: Custom Sign Consultants and Joseph J. Kierstyn, Case 13-CA-343009 (JD-42-26)
Primary Source Link: https://www.nlrb.gov/case/13-CA-343009
