In Fansteel, the Board awarded reinstatement with backpay to employees who engaged in a "sit down strike" that led to confrontation with local law enforcement officials.
Holding that an "inference of improper employer motivation" is permitted when an employer has terminated an employee who acted as a leader in making complaints to management on behalf of himself or others, or has organized workers on employment issues
Expressing reluctance "to adopt a rule that would permit the company to launder the `bad' motives of certain of its supervisors by forwarding a dispassionate report to a neutral superior"