Retail litigation center files 100th brief
Milestone marks importance of retail’s voice in the judicial branch
The Retail Litigation Center (Rlc) announced the filing of its 100th brief. The Rlc was founded in 2010 to serve as the voice of the retail industry in the judicial branch with the mission of representing retail before all three branches of government – legislative, executive and judicial.
Directed by the general counsel of the country's leading retailers, the Rlc helps courts understand the retail community and the issues of greatest importance to it. Rlc briefs have been filed in federal and state appellate courts and cover a broad range of issues, including labor and employment, tax, intellectual property, data security, payment systems and more.
"We are very pleased to reach the milestone of filing 100 briefs over the last seven years. Helping courts understand the retail community is beneficial regardless of the outcome but we have been pleased to see express recognition of our contribution in multiple cases," said Deborah White, president of the Rlc. "It's important that the retail industry have a voice in significant judicial proceedings and we look forward to continuing to serve as that voice in the years to come."
The Rlc has filed briefs in its name alone, led retail and business coalition briefs, and lent the retail industry's voice to the amicus briefs of other significant organizations. Collectively, these efforts now total 100 briefs filed.
In its 100th brief, the Rlc supported Macy's petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in Macy's v. Nlrb. At issue is whether the National Labor Relations Board properly certified a unit of cosmetics employees in a single store as an appropriate bargaining unit after a majority of the same store's employees voted against the union's bid to organize the whole store. The Rlc's brief explains the importance of the longstanding presumption that the "whole store" is the appropriate bargaining unit in the retail context, as well as the harm that will be caused to retail employees, customers and retail companies if the Nlrb's ruling is allowed to stand.
This brief is just one of the 100 examples of how the Rlc informs courts about the retail industry's perspective on significant legal issues and highlights the potential industry-wide impact of pending cases. A fact sheet highlighting key cases and outcomes from these 100 briefs can be found
