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Settlement Reached Over Anti-Union Tweets By Barstool Sports Founder


A few months ago, Barstool Sports and its founder, Dave Portnoy, came under fire after Portnoy tweeted several anti-union comments in regard to a possible unionization of the company.  (Barstool Sports is a sports and entertainment company with blogs, podcasts, and a short lived television show, among other ventures.)  In one of the tweets, Portnoy said he would fire any employee on the spot that talked to someone about unionizing the company.

Portnoy’s tweets drew the attention of Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who suggested that Portnoy had violated federal labor law by posting his anti-union tweets.  An unfair labor practices charge was subsequently filed with the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) and things had been relatively quiet since that point. 

However, it was recently reported that a settlement had been reached between the parties.  While the settlement did not include an acknowledgment that the company violated federal labor law, the company has agreed to notify its employees via email and physical posting of employees’ right to unionize.  As well, Portnoy will be required to delete his anti-union tweets and the company will take down a Barstool Sports Union account that was alleged to have been used to weed out which employees actually supported unionization.

Following the announced settlement, Representative Ocasio-Cortez tweeted “Reminder:  Threatening workers who want to unionize is illegal :)”


For additional information:  https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/barstool-sports-settles-with-labor-board-over-anti-union-tweets

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