The NAM filed an amicus brief 6/13/00 asking a federal appeals court to overturn an NLRB decision that allows employees to walk off the job anytime they may feel they're being exposed to dangerous working conditions--without regard to factual evidence.The court was to decide two key issues: 1) who decides what are abnormally dangerous working conditions; and 2) if employees walk off, can the company hire permanent replacements?
The NAM argued that there must in fact be "abnormally dangerous" workplace conditions before employees may walk out. Federal, state and local safety and health agencies that monitor workplace conditions--not the NLRB--should make that decision.
On 7/10/02, the court upheld the NLRB's legal rulings but vacated on factual grounds and because the case was not resolved in a reasonable time.