Court rules Crystal union workers can get unemployment benefits

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BISMARCK – The North Dakota Supreme Court, in a 3-2 decision released this afternoon, has ruled that locked-out American Crystal Sugar union workers in North Dakota are eligible for unemployment benefits.

Justice Carol Ronning Kapsner wrote for the majority in the decision, which reversed a ruling to deny benefits issued by Traill County District Court Judge Steven Marquart.

The opinion released today holds that a state law barring workers from collecting unemployment compensation in cases of work stoppages due to a labor dispute only applies if the employees initiated the stoppage.

American Crystal workers were locked out by the sugar processing cooperative in August 2011 after negotiations between them and the company failed, so locked-out union workers in North Dakota are eligible, the ruling states.

Minnesota workers who were locked out had been eligible for unemployment benefits, but Crystal’s union employees in North Dakota were not.

Justice Mary Muehler Maring and Justice Daniel Crothers sided with Kapsner, with Crothers writing a concurring opinion.

Check back for an update on this developing story.

Tags: crystal union, lock out, news, unemployment