Anheuser-Busch Loses Hidden-Camera Case

From the Associated Press via WTOP News:

Updated: Tuesday, Jul. 5, 2005 - 4:30 PM

By SAM HANANEL
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Beer maker Anheuser-Busch Cos. may have to reinstate several employees fired for using illegal drugs at work because the company used hidden cameras without informing the employees' union, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The brewer fired five workers in 1998 after hidden cameras showed them smoking marijuana in an area where employees sometimes take breaks at one of its St. Louis brewing facilities.

Four additional workers were suspended for leaving their work areas. Seven others, observed sleeping or urinating on the building's roof, had to sign "last-chance" agreements saying they could be fired for any further violation of company rules.

A 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a finding that the brewer committed an unfair labor practice when it installed the cameras in 1998 before bargaining with the union, Brewers and Maltsters, Local Union No. 6, as required under federal labor laws.

The decision by Judge Judith W. Rogers sends the case back to the National Labor Relations Board in Washington to determine what, if any, remedies the disciplined employees are entitled to, including the possibility of reinstatement for those fired.

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