In a decision that could change the way some union organizers do business, a federal judge has certified a class action suit under the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994 brought by a group of factory workers who claim that a union illegally obtained their home addresses by copying their license plates in the company parking lot.
And how did the union get the DMV address information?
At the Cintas's plant in Emmaus, UNITE organizers recorded the license plate numbers of the vehicles parked in the lot and then gave the numbers to a private investigator who, in turn, hired Pennsylvania Auto License Brokers to access home addresses from state databases.
People, this is a violation of Federal law. If you do illegal acts as part of an investigation that leads to litigation the investigator puts her license, her client's case and the working conditions of all private investigators in jeopardy. And, attorneys, get familiar with the law and don't ask your investigator to break it. In fact, tell them not to.
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