Nick C.Geannacopulos

Representative Labor Relations Litigation - National Labor Relations Board

• For decades, Nick has defended the property rights of retailors in a variety of settings weighing the rights of free speech and property rights, with great success, including the following
  • Represented grocery client before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, in a case addressing whether union organizers had the right to distribute literature on a stand-alone grocery store's private property under California law. The Board held that the employer violated the Act by banning the nonemployee union representatives from engaging in customer handbilling. The DC Circuit initially certified the question to the California Supreme Court, which refused to decide the issues. The DC Circuit then reversed the Board’s Decision and found that U.S. Supreme Court precedent was controlling.
  • Secured an order granting a preliminary injunction that restricted United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 588 from engaging in picketing activity at a client’s retail store. The matter was reversed and remanded for further proceedings following a change in California law.
• Obtained partial summary judgment for a waste management client in a Section 301 lawsuit in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, obtaining a favorable contract interpretation and significantly limiting the client’s liability.
• Represented a janitorial company in unfair labor practice charges before Region 20, which involved allegations of wrongful suspension and termination in retaliation for union activity. The Administrative Law Judge found, in part, that the employer properly suspended and terminated a shop steward for multiple credible threats to employees and the workplace.
• Represented a newspaper printing company in filing an unfair labor practice charge against Teamsters Local 921 before Region 20. The Board upheld the Administrative Law Judge’s Decision, which found that the union violated the Act.

Other Representative Matters

• Successfully defended a major retailor in a variety of class action cases involving wage-and-hour claims and collective bargaining preemption matters in the state of California. Secured several summary judgment rulings for the client, including a ruling that was upheld by the Fourth Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal. The Court found that the plaintiffs did not have the right to receive statutory meal breaks under California law because they were subject to a collective bargaining agreement that contained a “clear and unmistakable waiver” of those rights.
• Negotiated multiple contracts in the cement and cement-related industries throughout the US, which have included significant changes to pension plans, health care plans, and employment rules. Clients included Nevada Cement, Western Aggregates, Tulsa Cement, Sugar Creek Cement, Fairborn Cement, Illinois Cement, and Eagle Materials.