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The NAM filed an amicus brief defending employers’ rights to implement and follow anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies in an employment litigation suit. The litigation arose from Cooper Tire’s discharge of an employee for racist statements made by the employee while on a picket line. Manufacturers have a moral and legal obligation to ensure that employees are free of discrimination and harassment in the workplace. The NAM’s brief argued that 1) the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) should not protect racist comments, regardless of where or when the comments are made; 2) the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) cannot force employers to violate other federal statutes through its protection of racist speech used on a picket line; and 3) employers need to be able to rely on and apply their legitimate anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies. Unfortunately, the NLRB held that although the employee’s “statements most certainly were racist, offensive and reprehensible,” they did not forfeit the protection of the NLRA.