Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 502 U.S. 527 (1992) (U.S. Supreme Court)
Lechmere, Inc. v.
Under the NLRA, must an employer permit nonemployee union organizers to enter its private property to solicit employees when employees can be reached through reasonable alternative means of communication?
Section 7 of the NLRA protects employees' rights to self-organization, but it does not grant nonemployee union organizers an independent right of access to private property. Under NLRB v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., an employer may lawfully exclude nonemployee organizers from its property unless: (1) employees are beyond the reach of reasonable union efforts to communicate with them (inaccessibility), or (2) the employer discriminates by permitting distribution or solicitation by other nonemployees while excluding union organizers. Only when a threshold showing of inaccessibility (or discrimination) is made do the employees' Section 7 rights outweigh the employer's property rights. Mere inconvenience, expense, or diminished efficacy of alternative means does not establish inaccessibility.
No. An employer does not commit an unfair labor practice by excluding nonemployee union organizers from its private property when employees are accessible through reasonable alternative means. On these facts, Lechmere lawfully barred the organizers; the employees were not inaccessible.
Lechmere is the leading case on nonemployee union access to employer property. It reaffirms that Section 7 rights belong to employees and that the Babcock inaccessibility exception is narrow. The decision constrains the NLRB's ability to mandate on-site access for outside organizers and assigns the union the burden to show employees are practically unreachable through reasonable off-premises methods. For law students, the case is essential for understanding: (1) the employees vs. nonemployees distinction under the NLRA, (2) the Babcock framework (inaccessibility and discrimination), (3) limits on agency balancing when Supreme Court precedent supplies the rule, and (4) how private property rights are accommodated with statutory labor rights. It remains a practical guide for organizing campaigns and employer access policies.