## Facts

- Minnie Nash, a union-affiliated employee, returned to work under a union–management agreement after a strike.
- On May 16, 1965, her employer laid her off, citing insufficient work and slow production; she remained unemployed until she was recalled on October 5, 1965.
- Nash received Florida unemployment compensation from May 16 to June 17, 1965.
- During her unemployment, Nash filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging the layoff was retaliatory for union activity.
- Florida officials then applied a “labor dispute” disqualification provision to deny further benefits from June 17 to October 5, 1965, treating the NLRB charge itself as the basis for a disqualifying labor dispute.
- The Florida appellate court upheld the denial; the U.S. Supreme Court granted review.

## Issues

1. Whether a state may, consistent with the Supremacy Clause, deny unemployment benefits solely because an employee filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB.
2. Whether applying a state “labor dispute” disqualification to penalize resort to the NLRA’s enforcement process conflicts with and is preempted by federal labor law.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed, holding Florida’s law invalid as applied.
- Denying benefits solely because Nash filed an NLRB charge frustrated enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and violated the Supremacy Clause.
- The Court emphasized that NLRB unfair labor practice proceedings require the filing of a private charge as a necessary trigger for federal enforcement.

## Legal Principles

- Under NLRA § 10, the NLRB cannot initiate an unfair labor practice proceeding without a charge; the federal enforcement scheme depends on individuals being free to file charges.
- A state may not impose a benefit disqualification that operates as a penalty for invoking a federally created enforcement mechanism.
- State action is preempted under the Supremacy Clause when it conflicts with federal labor policy by deterring protected or federally authorized conduct and obstructing the operation of the NLRA.

## Conclusion

Florida could not disqualify Nash from unemployment compensation solely because she filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB; imposing that penalty conflicted with the NLRA’s enforcement structure and was preempted under the Supremacy Clause.


Nash v. Fla. Indus. Comm'n, 389 U.S. 235 (1967)