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June 09, 2005
Privacy vs. union organizing
A statutory right to privacy may block a traditional union organizing tool. Union organizers often need a list of employee names and addresses so they can visit the employees at home and talk them into joining. One way to get a list is to take down license plate numbers in the employer's parking lot and run them through the state motor vehicle records.
This practice probably is unlawful due to the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994 (DPPA) which forbids individuals from obtaining and using personal information from a motor vehicle record for any purpose other than purposes permitted by the DPPA. The minimum statutory damages are $2,500.
When UNITE tried to organize an employer, some employees sued under DPPA. And now the federal district court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has certified a class of plaintiffs consisting of:
All persons whose license plate numbers were used by UNITE, directly or indirectly, individually or jointly, as part of an effort to knowingly obtain, use and/or disclose personal information from motor vehicle records between July 1, 2002 and August 2, 2004.
The case is Pichler v. Unite, and the 75-page opinion is [here].
My view: This case probably spells the end of this method for getting names and addresses of employees.
Posted June 09, 2005 by Ross Runkel, Editor at LawMemo, publisher of Employment Law Memo. Try it.
