On 10/15/99, the NAM filed a brief supporting the NLRB’s decision allowing a company to lock out employees who engage in inside-game tactics. The D.C. Circuit ruled 5/9/00 to uphold the company’s lockout.Union employees use "inside game" tactics to win bargaining-table concessions, slowing down the work pace, refusing to work overtime, asking for minute instructions from supervisors, filing mass charges with government agencies, calling in sick, or otherwise impeding or disrupting operations without actually going on strike. By taking the strike inside, union employees continue to be paid. The company in this case faced this situation and locked them out.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed an NLRB decision in favor of the company, Central Illinois Public Service Co. (CIPSCO). The court and the Board allow companies to lock out such employees, as a legitimate countervailing economic weapon. According to the court, lockouts are not "inherently destructive of employee rights," and the employer had a "legitimate and substantial business justification" for the lockout. A lockout is a reasonable tool to help bring about a resolution of collective bargaining negotiations, and there was no evidence of anti-union animus on the part of the employer.