US court says it can't hear Amazon's NLRB challenge, deepening circuit split

By Daniel Wiessner Dec 29 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday said Amazon.com’s legal challenge to the National Labor Relations Board’s structure cannot be heard in court, breaking with a different court that recently ruled in favor of Elon Musk’s SpaceX in a case making similar claims. A unanimous three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that because Amazon’s lawsuit arose out of a labor dispute between the company and drivers employed by a contractor, federal law bars courts from weighing in. The case is one of more than 40 filed in courts across the country since late 2023 targeting various aspects of the NLRB’s structure and in-house enforcement proceedings and seeking to stop individual board cases from moving forward. Amazon had sued in 2024 to block an NLRB administrative case claiming the online retail giant was the “joint employer” of drivers employed by another company, Battle Tested Strategies, and should have recognized and bargained with their union. The company denies wrongdoing in the underlying case. Amazon claims that NLRB proceedings are unconstitutional because federal labor law bars the board’s five members and its administrative judges from being removed without cause. The D.C. Circuit this month agreed that board members cannot be shielded from at-will removal and upheld President Donald Trump’s unprecedented firing of Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic board member. A federal judge in California denied Amazon’s bid for a preliminary injunction in February, citing the Norris-LaGuardia Act, which strips federal courts of the power to issue any “injunction in a case involving or growing out of a labor dispute.” The 9th Circuit on Monday affirmed, saying the law was intended to protect workers’ labor rights by not allowing courts to interfere with pending NLRB cases. “Amazon’s requested injunction would impede union activities, the very outcome the Act was enacted to prevent,” Circuit Judge Danielle Forrest wrote. The panel included Circuit Judges Jacqueline Nguyen and Lawrence VanDyke. Forrest and VanDyke were appointed by Trump and Nguyen is an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama. Amazon and the NLRB did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The decision deepens an existing split between the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia, which ruled the same way earlier this month in a lawsuit against the NLRB by a New Jersey nursing home, and the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit, making it more likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately weigh in. The 5th Circuit in August ruled in cases involving SpaceX and two other companies that removal protections for NLRB members and administrative judges are invalid. The court rejected claims that the Norris-LaGuardia Act barred the companies’ lawsuits, saying that “labor disputes” do not include legal battles between employers and the NLRB. The 9th Circuit on Monday said the 5th Circuit had ignored the plain language of the law, which makes clear that courts cannot touch cases that “involve or grow out of” a dispute over terms of employment. “It need not itself be a labor dispute,” Forrest wrote. The ruling does not completely foreclose challenges by employers to the board’s structure in the 9th Circuit, which covers California and eight other states. Companies can raise those claims in administrative proceedings and then bring them to appeals courts if they lose cases before the NLRB. The case is Amazon.com Services v. National Labor Relations Board, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 25-886. For Amazon: Kamran Mirrafati of Seyfarth Shaw For the NLRB: David Boehm For the Teamsters: Hector De Haro of Bush Gottlieb Read more: Musk’s SpaceX, others win US court challenge to labor board’s structure Amazon hit with US labor board complaint over ‘joint employment’ of drivers Amazon joins companies arguing US labor board is unconstitutional NLRB wins transfer of Amazon lawsuit from Texas to D.C. Amazon loses bid to block NLRB case over NYC union bargaining US court says Trump can remove Democrats from two federal labor boards