Attorney Francona is representing a public high school teacher named Mr. Baker Landry. Mr. Landry has taught AP English Literature and 21^st Century Literature at Dawg High School for the past 30 years. Dawg High School is a public high school in the Ward City School District. The Ward City School District is a very prestigious public school district in Northeast Ohio. Although the teachers at Dawg High School (as well as all of the schools within the Ward City School District) are unionized, the Ward City School District has experienced very little labor strife over the years. Collective bargaining between the teachers' union and the Ward City School Board has traditionally been very amiable. Grievances filed by members of the union are frequently resolved informally in a manner that is satisfactory to all parties involved.

The collective bargaining agreement between the teachers' union and the Ward City School Board states that no high school teacher will be required to have more than 2 class "preps" during each school year. This means that no teacher will be asked to prepare for more than 2 different classes. Traditionally, Mr. Landry has taught 2 sections of AP English Literature and 2 sections of 21^st Century Literature. However, the collective bargaining agreement states that an administrator has the power to require a teacher to teach a third class in the event that another teacher in their department resigns or is terminated within 7 days of the start of the school year. The rationale for this rule is that the short period of time between the termination esignation and the start of the school year does not provide the district with enough time to identify a suitable long-term replacement. The collective bargaining agreement states that the four teachers in the specific department with the least seniority will have their schedule adjusted and be required to assume an additional "prep" to cover the resigned\terminated teacher's classes. The collective bargaining agreement also states that teachers are entitled to receive "bonus" compensation if they agree to cover another teacher's classes when they are absent or agree to assist with supervision in the lunchroom. However, the agreement also states that teachers are free to decline any request to serve in either of these capacities and that administrators shall not pressure them into serving in these capacities.

After arranging his classroom on a Friday, Mr. Landry headed into the weekend with a great deal of excitement about the start of the school year. However, as he was preparing to leave the building, Mr. Landry heard his name called over the PA system with a request to come to Vice Principal Ben Elway's office. When Mr. Landry went to Vice Principal Elway's office, he was told, "Bad news. Mr. Jackson just resigned because he decided that he wanted to go back to school to pursue a Ph.D. I'm going to combine your two sections of 21^st Century Literature into one section. Now that he's gone, you have the least amount of seniority in the department, so you have to pick up one of Mr. Jackson's four courses. That's in the union contract. You'll be picking up one of Mr. Jackson's British Literature classes. He has two sections of British Literature and two sections of AP English Language and Composition, and you know that the union contract only lets a teacher teach 2 AP courses during one single school year. I've already dialed in Mr. Humphrey on this (Mr. Humphrey is the union representative for Dawg High School) and he said that it's permissible under the contract." Mr. Landry responded by saying, "I've never taught British Literature before. I have no idea where to even start." Vice Principal Elway responded by saying, "Well, I guess you know what you'll be doing this weekend then. The cabinet in Mr. Jackson's old room has all of the books that he traditionally assigns. I gotta run now, but thanks a lot for being understanding."

Frustrated, Mr. Landry returned to his classroom and accessed the union contract on his computer. He saw that the language of the contract did indeed require this to be done. Mr. Landry is a third-generation union member. Both Mr. Landry's father and grandfather were members of unions. Growing up, Mr. Landry remembered accompanying his father and grandfather to the picket line during strikes, and he never forgot the way in which both his father and his grandfather described the union as being a powerful advocate for a safe workplace. Mr. Landry thought about his union's contract and he became very angry. He took out his own personal smartphone, logged onto Facebook, and posted the following status on his private Facebook page: "Just found out that I gotta teach British Literature this year because a teacher quit on us right before the start of the year. Now I have to prepare 3 classes instead of just 2 classes. There go my evenings and weekends. My dad came home at night and played with us because his union actually fought for him and made sure he didn't have to work mandatory overtime every night. Man, Humphrey is so darn worthless. Can't believe he agreed to let them do this to us. Never voting for him again. Am I the only one who has had a bad experience with him? We need a union rep who isn't going to just let the district do whatever they want." Mr. Landry's Facebook page is a "Private" Facebook page that is only viewable by individuals who he has added as "Friends".

Throughout the weekend, ten teachers from Dawg High School who are Mr. Landry's "friends" on Facebook commented on Mr. Landry's Facebook post. The vast majority of the comments were extremely supportive of Mr. Landry. Comments such as, "I know right? I submitted two written grievances last year about the fact that I was . Humphrey talks tough around election time but a piece of wet toilet paper has more strength than Humphrey at the negotiating table.". Another comment said, "You're not kidding. Elway made me cover sick teachers' classes last year ten times during my lunch break or my planning period. Humphrey never made sure that I got my bonus pay even though I asked him to do so. How do they expect us to prepare these students for standardized tests if they keep asking us to do extra things during our planning periods? I told Humphrey about the fact that Elway kept strong-arming me into extra work after the first three times, and he told me that he would look into it. However, nothing changed. Humphrey knew that the collective bargaining agreement was being violated and did nothing." Yet another comment said, "Totally agree. I gave up my planning period to help out in the lunchroom on three occasions and Humphrey basically ignored my grievance after I didn't get paid for doing so. Our last rep always made sure that we got paid for extra work." In addition to the aforementioned comments, 15 other teachers from Dawg High School who are Mr. Landy's "friends" on Facebook "Liked" the post.

On the following Monday, Vice Principal Elway paged Mr. Landry over the school's PA system approximately 30 minutes before the start of the school day. When Mr. Landry arrived at Vice Principal Elway's office, Mr. Landry noticed that Mr. Humphrey, a security guard, and a member of the district's human resources department were present. Vice Principal Elway said, "Mr. Landry, I am notifying you that you are being terminated immediately as a result of your social media post on Friday. We need to get off to a positive start this school year, and your comments about Mr. Humphrey were very rude. As if that wasn't bad enough, your post inspired a bunch of other employees to post negative things about Mr. Humphrey as well. We're going to have a levy on the ballot this fall, and we need morale to be strong in the building. I have a screenshot of this post that was sent to me, so don't even try to deny that you said what you said. Please review this printed copy of the Ward City School District's Social Media Policy that was passed by the Board earlier in the summer. The text of that policy states, "Employees of the Ward City School District are permitted to speak about matters of public concern on social media. The Ward City School District also recognizes the value of harmonious relations between the union and the District, and the Ward City School District will not punish any employee who engages in protected concerted activity (as defined under the National Labor Relations Act) on social media. However, in an effort to maintain a positive, harmonious, safe, and effectively functioning work environment, employees of the Ward City School District are prohibited from sharing purely personal grievances related to their specific employment with the district that are not relevant to the public or purely personal feelings about other staff members on social media. This includes, but is not limited to, matters of salary, evaluations, scheduling, and purely work-related disputes between District personnel. Employees of the Ward City School District are strongly encouraged to directly resolve these types of matters with the person(s) involved or to file a grievance with their union representative."

Vice Principal Elway proceeded to state, "Mr. Landry, please note that you have the right to appeal your termination under the union contract, of course. Please report to your classroom, gather your items, and leave before the school day begins. If you are present in the room when the bell rings, the security guard will escort you out of the building."

In an effort to avoid creating a disturbance, Mr. Landry packed up his belongings and left the building immediately. Mr. Landry promptly drove to Mr. Francona's office, explained the entire situation to him, and told him that he would like to file a lawsuit against the Ward City School District alleging wrongful termination.

Mr. Francona believes that relief could be sought from the National Labor Relations Board under the National Labor Relations Act because the Ward City School District has committed an unfair labor practice by terminating Mr. Landry because of his social media post. Mr. Francona has stated that he will do all of the research and analysis that is needed in order to determine if the Ward City School District's Social Media Policy is overbroad and unconstitutional, and that your work simply needs to focus on whether Mr. Landry's termination violated the National Labor Relations Act.

Mr. Francona would like you to review the law on these matters and draft a memorandum for his review that answers the following question:

1.Did the Ward City School District violate Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act and commit an unfair labor practice by terminating Mr. Landry because of his post on Facebook?

II. SHORT CONCLUSION

III. STATEMENT OF FACTS