How Not To Fire a Union Salt

An NLRB judge ordered Southern Aluminum Finishing to reinstate and make whole a union organizer it fired in 2023. The decision (JD-35-26) is a clinic in what not to do.

Kyle Phillips was hired as a fabricator in Indianapolis. Two weeks in, he announced he was a paid organizer for Sheet Metal Workers Local 20. Within days he was reassigned to a loud bandsaw that isolated him from coworkers. Two weeks after that, suspended. Ten days later, fired.

The problem wasn’t that the company acted. It’s the paper trail. The HR manager testified the employee complaints were that “Kyle wouldn’t stop unionizing.” The investigation never touched performance. And the termination letter cited the sexual harassment policy, of all things.

The judge also struck down the company’s confidentiality and non-solicitation rules as overly broad under Stericycle.

To me, the lesson is simple. Salts are protected, and they’re often baiting you into exactly this reaction. Document real misconduct, or don’t act.

The law of salting is tricky and worth a conversation if you’ve got an organizer on the floor.