Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB

Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 15, 2002 Decided March 27, 2002
Full case name	Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board
Docket no.	00-1595
Citations	535 U.S. 137 (more) 122 S. Ct. 1275; 152 L. Ed. 2d 271; 2002 U.S. LEXIS 2147; 70 U.S.L.W. 4209; 145 Lab. Cas. (CCH) ¶ 11,230; 169 L.R.R.M. 2769; 2002 Cal. Daily Op. Service 2731; 2002 Daily Journal DAR 3304; 15 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 178
Case history
Prior	On writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Holding
An award of back pay to a worker, who had been laid off for his part in a union organizing drive, was denied because he was an undocumented immigrant.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	Rehnquist, joined by O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas
Dissent	Breyer, joined by Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg

Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 535 U.S. 137 (2002), is a United States labor law decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States denied an award of back pay to an undocumented worker, José Castro, who had been laid off for participating in a union organizing campaign at Hoffman Plastics Compounds plant, along with several other employees.^[1] The case was originally filed against Hoffman by Dionisio Gonzalez, an organizer with the United Steelworkers.^[2]

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that the layoff of Castro had violated National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) section 8(a)(3)^[3] on the unlawful firing of union supporters. Castro used another person's identity (a friend's birth certificate) to gain employment at Hoffman Plastics.

In a 5–4 decision, with the justices divided along ideological lines, the Supreme Court interpreted that the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), which penalizes undocumented workers and provides for significant penalties to companies that knowingly employ illegal immigrants, disallows the use of the make-whole remedial scheme of the NLRA against an employer that benefits any person who knowingly broke immigration law. Chief Justice William Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court, joined by Justices Sandra O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Clarence Thomas.

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a dissent, joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. They expressed concern that employers would use the illegal immigration status of an employee to relieve themselves of responsibility under the NLRA.