For 12 years, David Brune taught theater and drama at the Dalton School, an elite private school in New York City. Like other Dalton faculty, he worked on a renewable one-year contract. 

The school chose Thoroughly Modern Millie as the middle school’s annual play and made Brune the production manager. However, a month before the premiere, the school halted the production because some parents were offended by the play’s stereotypical depiction of Asians. But then students were upset about not being able to perform. The school ultimately opted to allow a rewritten, sanitized version of the play to go forward. All these changes required significant time and effort from Brune and other members of the theater department, who had to produce the new version in only three days. 

Brune and his colleagues were frustrated with the school administration. They felt that the leadership had ignored their concerns, put additional burdens on them without recognizing the extra effort required, and mishandled communication throughout the school community To communicate their distress, Robert Sloan, the chair of the theater department, circulated to his faculty a draft letter that he proposed sending to Ellen Stein, the Head of School. Brune replied with a lengthy, ranting email to the group, proposing that the administration should be told:

We have been grievously wronged and we would like an apology. You lied. Apologize for lying, for not being honest, forthright, upstanding, moral, considerate, much less intelligent or wise. 

Without Brune’s knowledge, Sloan gave a copy of this email to Stein, and she summoned Brune to a meeting. He denied having called her dishonest or immoral. Five weeks later, Stein met with Brune again. This time, she showed him a copy of his email and he admitted he had written it. She then fired him, effective at the end of the school year. A month later, she told him he had been fired for lying. 

Questions:

1. Did Stein violate the NLRA by firing Brune?

2. Did Dalton School violate the NLRA by firing Brune?

3. Was Brune’s email protected as concerted activity? If so, why?

4. How did management get a hold of Brune’s email? 

5. Were the statements that Brune made violent or otherwise unprotected by the Act?