Five Star Transportation, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

**Five Star Transportation, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board** This case involved six school bus drivers who wrote letters to their local school district criticizing their employer, Five Star Transportation. The drivers raised concerns about company practices in their letters. After writing these letters, Five Star refused to hire or consider these drivers for employment, apparently in response to their criticism. The drivers filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), claiming the company retaliated against them for speaking up about workplace issues. The NLRB investigated and ruled in favor of the drivers, finding that Five Star violated federal labor law by punishing the workers for their protected activities. Five Star appealed this decision to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, but the court upheld the NLRB's ruling. The court ordered Five Star to offer the drivers jobs and pay them back wages for the time they were wrongfully excluded from employment. **Why this matters for workers:** This ruling reinforces that employees have the legal right to join together and speak out about workplace problems without fear of retaliation. Even when workers criticize their employer to outside parties like government agencies or customers, they can be protected under federal labor law if they're acting together to address legitimate workplace concerns.