Ten workers who lost their jobs three years ago after forming a union have settled with their old nonprofit employer for $449,999 in back pay, benefits and wages, according to an unfair-termination settlement announced Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board.
Big Green, the Broomfield nonprofit founded by Kimbal Musk (brother of Elon), agreed to end its appeal of the charges that stemmed from the Sept. 13, 2021, layoff of the entire 10-person bargaining unit. The organization, which at the time was restructuring its business, must also require current managers and supervisors to attend NLRB training sessions on employee rights, according to the settlement.
According to the case, the Big Green workers, represented by the Denver Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America, Local 37074, AFL-CIO, said the organization “threatened employees with discipline and termination for engaging in union activities,” in July 2021.
By Sept. 13 that year, Big Green changed its business model from maintaining community gardens and teaching students about gardening and healthy food choices to dispersing grants, and laid off the 10 workers who operated the community gardens.
The union filed charges and earlier this year, a U.S. district judge issued an injunction requiring Big Green to end unfair labor practices and reinstate workers after finding the company retaliated less than three months after workers requested union recognition. At the time, a spokesperson for the company said that it had offered to reinstate all 10 former employees. Two returned, according to a motion filed last month.
The Colorado Sun reached out to the union and Big Green for comment but did not hear back.
The settlement, according to legal filings, splits the $449,999.98 between all 10 workers. Total sums ranged from roughly $18,500 to $119,000. The payments include back pay, interim expenses, interest, excess taxes and something called frontpay, or compensation for earnings they would have made had they not been wrongfully terminated.
Meanwhile, Big Green must not only send and email copies of the settlement to all current and former employees, but also read it out loud to staff in a meeting “scheduled to ensure the widest possible attendance on each shift,” according to the filing.
In a statement, NLRB Region 27 regional director Matthew S. Lomax in Denver said, “Workers have a right to take collective action free from employer retaliation. The work by Region 27 staff to obtain this settlement exemplifies their diligence and dedication to employees’ rights.”Big Green’s worker union was among more than 100 new unions formed in Colorado since the start of the COVID pandemic. But few of those new unions reached a new contract, according to an earlier Sun investigation.