A National Labor Relations Board decision that allowed a hospital to ban nurses from wearing a union button stating “RNs Demand Safe Staffing” has been overturned by the Ninth Circuit on appeal by the nurses’ union.

The Court holds that the NLRB’s decision was not supported by substantial evidence that the ban was justified by “special circumstances”—the disruption of health care operations or disturbing the patients. “In fact, it is not supported by any evidence,” the Court says, pointing out that the record revealed that nurses had worn the button for “months without incident,” and that there were no patient complaints or even questions about the button’s message. “Evidence of what actually occurred is far more telling than unsubstantiated conjecture about what might occur,” the Court rules, ordering the NLRB to reinstate a decision that the employer had engaged in an unfair labor practice. Washington State Nurses Association v. NLRB